Happiness
by Pious Mage
Summary: This is not a happy story. Realistic AU, Darker AU.
1. Prologue

"Champion Ethan Goldberg was found dead this morning at six-forty-two AM Cerulean time."

This was the line that would change my life forever. I was born the only child of a Mrs. John and Cathy Graham in the slums of Cherrygrove city. My mum was a heroin addict who beat me regularly and sold herself off to pay for her next fix. My father was a belligerent drunk who worked construction when he could get off his lazy ass and would never ever stick up for me, too tired of my mothers shit and too scared of being beaten himself.

By the time I was six years old, I had run away twice, both times I returned home after an hour as I was hungry and being a six-year-old I realistically couldn't feed myself, my parents didn't even realize I was gone. By the time I was eight, I was as obsessed with pokemon battles as any kid my age, however, while other kids studied how cool a Charizard was or how pretty a Butterfree was. I was taking notes how much both were damaged by a move names stealth rock and how completely unviable it made them in the higher up tournaments.

When I was nine years old I was already working odd jobs around town, I didn't go to school because my parents didn't care and I'd rather spend the time on things I wanted to do. So instead, I'd help older lady's get there purloins out of trees. I'd mow peoples lawns, sure it'd only earn me about five to ten dollars a job, but I was saving up to two hundred so I could obtain a pokeball. I had a plethora of ideas on what to use it on, as I often went to the library to study up on what lived around here. However, before I turned ten and was able to obtain a trainers license, something happened.

Champion Goldberg was able to pass a bill that he'd been trying to get passed for the better part of twenty years. A bill that raised the age limit to obtain a trainers license for eleven.

"Not as high as I wanted it but it's progress." The champion was quoted and thus my dreams of leaving my shitty home were extended to two years instead of one and over the next three years he was able to raise it up to fourteen after statistics showed the declining rate in fatalities in young trainers.

Meanwhile, I continued to study and rule out species nearby that would not be up to par. I thought about a Magikarp but they take to long to raise especially as your starter pokemon, the surrounding Caterpie, Weedle and Ledyba families were way too weak. Kingler was too slow outside of water, Octillery was intelligent and strong but hesitant and preferred to use there ink to run not fight. Pidgeots were fast durable decently strong, good starters but, way too easy to account and strategize for as pretty much everyone had one and they were dumb as a brick. I just wanted something powerful, fast, intelligent, durable and rare, was that so hard to ask for?

So I turned my view elsewhere, to the nocturnal. after all, most trainers train and catch during the day and aren't prepared for the nocturnal. There I did my research and found out the local area's nocturnal pokemon include, Hoot-hoot, Spinarak, Teddiursa, and Murkrow. Noctowl are useful as they have limited psionic energy but they were relatively weak ambush predators and required the cover of darkness to really be useful so they were out. Spinarak work well in teams, have limited psionic and spiritual energy, are fast and are good ambush predators, but they work in hivemind, separated from that they don't have much thought and are weak to many many common types in the higher tiers, including fire, flying, rock and the ever-present psychic. Teddiursa and Ursaring were strong pokemon, a little on the slow side but powerhouses who with the right moves and team set could swing through other teams like a wrecking ball. It was near perfect… Except for the fact that Teddiursa was always near there mother until they evolved, and to steal a cub from an Ursaring was among the most dangerous things a person could do let alone a thirteen-year-old girl. Lastly, there was Murkrow, Honchkrow was great team workers, usually flying in murders between thirty and fifty They had decent speed, were extremely powerful, could take at least one hit and hit back hard, excellent typing giving it two immunities to two of the most powerful types, Ground and Psychic, and were too intelligent to be caught often. So a Murkrow it was.

I had already earned enough money for two pokeballs at this point but to do the plan I had, I would only have enough money for one. However, my plan was the only shot I'd have at catching these elusive dark type birds. So every night I'd sneak out of my house and walk over to the local Kalosian Fried Torchick. There I'd order three huge bowls of fries and a little bit of chicken for myself. Then I'd head to a nearby park where plenty of Murkrow and Bellsprout smokers would hang out. There I'd wait at the edge of a flock throwing fries to the Murkrow in front of me. At first they spooked and ran but eventually, they grew to recognize me and my tasty treats. After about three weeks, they began flying over to me and I could feed them by hand and pet them. The local park-goers began referring to me as the Murkrow girl or MG for short, Funny enough it worked out perfectly as those were my initials. I even was able to make a little money by offering to help people pet the Murkrow but that was just a nice side effect of my real plan; To tame one of these beasts for the day that I could finally leave on my journey.

Every time I saw my new feathered friends I tested and observed them. I observed which ones were the most aggressive, I didn't want one that was too much of an alpha and would fight me, I tested which ones were the fastest. which was something I would need as speed was one of there species more lacking aspects. I manipulated them to fight so I could see which ones would strike the hardest and which ones could take the most damage and I set up traps, and puzzles to test their wits in which often times I could make more money by betting on the outcomes with my newfound fans.

After another six weeks of observing and testing, I settled on a small female Murkrow. She was young and timid, taking the longest to trust me out of any of them to trust me and even then never let me pet her or came close. However she was very fast, often being the first to thrown food, when I manipulated a fight between her and a larger male, she flew away and didn't come back for a week and even then staying even further away then before from me, almost as if she suspected it was me who organized it. When it came to the puzzles, she was usually second to the food, mainly because I couldn't organize anything super complex being a thirteen year old with limited access to tools, and the bird that would reach first usually would just smash his way to the food. However, when I asked them to a task or idea instead of a physical puzzle she would always solve it and get her food. So while she was not a skilled battler, she was the smartest and the fastest of her murder and for that I wanted her.

The problem was the age limit I still had at least another thirty-four weeks before I could legally train a pokemon, so for the next week I continued my exercises, now having made a choice, I made more and more bets, hoping to raise money for my journey. At the end of that week though is when the message that would change my life was announced. That the champion was dead. It sucked too as despite wanting to leave on a journey so young I liked the champion. He was young, well at least compared to most champions. He loved his nation, his beliefs were well founded and he brought the mortality rate of trainers down way more, due to the introduction of free health care for trainers and trainer pokemon, deprivatization of Pokemarts and of course the increase in age for pokemon trainers. Unfortunately though none of that mattered as he was dead and thanks to no one ever beating Ethan, the previous champion Lance was reinstated as the leader of the Kanjo region. His first act of business? Passing a bill that lowered the age of training back down to ten years old.

I was ecstatic at this news. It meant I could apply for my trainers permit and even though, I was poor, had little supplies and didn't actually own a pokemon yet, I apply as soon as I possibly could, or at least I tried… For in order for anyone below the age of sixteen to apply and obtain there trainers license they needed parental permission, so I took a form home and began to think of ways to trick my parents into signing the thing, as I knew they sure as hell wouldn't sign it if they actually knew what it was. My mum needed her punching bag after all and my dad needed someone else for my mum to bitch at. So I settled on the simplest solution. I waited until dinner that night and ate at home. After being yelled at for a while for not finding my own food and for draining our families resources and for being pathetic, we sat down and ate dinner in silence. Every few minutes I'd offer to fill my parent's glasses of wine which made the two lousy drunks actually happy with me for once. By the time we finished dinner, they had finished a bottle each and we're halfway done there third. It was then that I actually sprang the question.

"Mum, Dad?" I asked as innocently as I possibly could while they both looked aghast that I dared to speak in a sentence other than offering them more wine. "Um… There's a field trip at school coming up and um… I need you guys to sign the permission form." I lied trying to sound as normal as innocent as possible despite my heart racing as fast as a rapidash.

"Will it cost anything?" My dad slurred, the worry and tiredness evident in his voice.

"N-no." I stammered out praying they wouldn't catch me lying or I'd be in for it.

"What kinda field trip doesn't cost any money?" My mom asked outraged.

"We're just going to the ruins of Alph.:" I muttered the lie I had been practicing for the last twelve hours. "The school is gonna pay for it."

"On our tax dollars? Arceus this country is going to ruins." My mum said, her temper flaring hotly and I had to suppress a laugh, my parents never paid taxes,

"S-so can you sign it," I asked in a near whisper.

"Yeah sure, bring it here." My father said yawning voice clear of any and all emotion. I nearly jumped for joy. I took the piece of paper out of my pocket alongside a pen I had snagged and placed it on the table. This was the most delicate part of it all, I hoped he was drunk enough to not actually read the form. Unfortunately for me, he began muttering it aloud to himself. "By signing this paper you hereby agree to the league's terms and give permission for your child to-" He said stopping reading when he saw what it actually said, his eyes going wide. He glanced up at my mum, down at the paper, at me, back down at the paper and then up at my mum again who was filling up yet another glass of wine.

"What're ya laking at me for." My mom heavily slurred, the alcohol finally hitting her. "Whassit say?"

"Oh, just that there going by teleportation is all." My dad said looking up at me and flashing me a quick wink before signing it. I couldn't believe it, he was actually letting me go off of his own consciousness. I hugged him and ran upstairs to my room before my mum could start going off about the expensiveness of teleportation, I prepared myself to get up early as I wanted to go in and test for my license as soon as I could, so I could leave as soon as possible. I began packing my backpack full of clothes, the cash I had accumulated so far and whatever snacks I had been able to sneak upstairs over the past couple of weeks. It was while doing this that I heard a knock on my door and jumped quickly throwing my bag underneath my bed. My father entered through the door and I began to be very nervous, this was it. He was gonna tell me off and I wouldn't be able to leave an-

"Here, take this." He said leaning down and handing me a large wad of cash rubber banded together. "But don't tell your mother." He said smiling softly.

"You-you're not mad," I whispered, eyes wide at the giant sum of money he was handing me.

"Mad, of course, I'm not mad." He said smiling widely. "I knew you'd wanna do this one day, after all, who wants to stick around with that witch of women." He shot nastily at my mum.

"But this-this is a lot of money."

"A lot of money you're gonna need on your journey." He said shoving it into my hands. "I've been saving it up for a long time ya know? I mean, I remember when I started my journey I wished I had this much."

"You were a trainer?" I asked astonished to hear the news.

"Of course I was a lousy one at that too. Could never make it past four badges though." He said his eyes full of nostalgia reminiscing on the past.

"Well, what happened?" I asked curious to learn more about this side of my father.

"I met your mother." He said smiling. "She was quite different back then ya know? Just as feisty but in a different way. It was love at first sight for me. She was a hell of a trainer but one day her starter, a Pillowswine was killed in a battle against leader Chuck. She snapped after that, started having mood swings, getting aggressive. I stayed by her, I was in love after all. She got pregnant and had you, started having worse mood swings, got into the hard stuff she was into now… I had to sell our remaining pokemon to pay for her addictions, and well as you're aware my own too. Now I stick with her out of fear that she'll try and kill you, or she'll say that I beat her in a drunken rage and if I'm being honest in hope that the old her will shine through." He said sadly, at this point lost in his own memories.

"Thank you, daddy," I said hugging him, sniffing and for the first time in a very long time actually crying.

"Anything for you MG." He said pulling away and winking at me.

"You know about that?" I asked embarrassedly.

"Of course I do." He said laughing. "You think I don't ever watch the news, or where you're going at nights? You're your mother's daughter, and you've sure got her talent with pokemon." He said proudly and my eyes were watering. For the first time in my life, I was gonna miss something at home. "Now you better get some sleep, you got a long day ahead of yourself tomorrow, and I know you'll wanna leave straight away. You are your mother's daughter, after all, he said a twinkle in his eye.

"I love you, daddy," I said hugging him again then crawling into bed, for the first time since I was young he tucked me in.

As I fell asleep I felt him kiss my forehead and whisper "I love you too little one." Those were the last words I ever heard him speak. He and my mother were found dead three days after I left for my journey, my mother smothered with a pillow in her sleep and my father beside her an empty bottle of pills and a picture of him and my mum smiling widely with me as a baby in a carriage on his bedside table.

In the end, he had found what we all sought, he had found happiness.


	2. You're Gonna Go Far Kid

I woke up around five AM the next morning. I snuck out of bed as quietly as I could and crept out my door and down the stairs. I stopped in the kitchen and grabbed a couple of granola bars for a quick and small breakfast. I could eat a serious meal later with the money my dad had given me the night before. I turned off the alarm to our front door as I had learned long ago to do and then exited my home closing the door as quietly as possible. I turned around and looked at the house for what I hoped would be the last time, and then I left and never looked back.

By now I had the way to the league building memorized, first take a right down Front Street, walk two blocks down, take another right at James Avenue, walk another seven blocks that way, turn left down Jessie Avenue and the building was only a few meters ahead. I had made the trip dozens of times before and I knew it'd take about an hour to get there at a casual pace, which was all good since the building didn't open until six AM anyways. So I set off, munching on one of my granola bars along the way.

I was thankful that it was still just the beginning of January and that it was still dark outside so early, if one of my mothers "friends" as she called them spotted me, well that was it, my journey's over. Not only that but that it would get dark earlier, allowing me to catch my Murkrow earlier and therefore set off earlier. I knew I would have to travel for a bit at night tonight if I wanted to get far away enough from town to be safe. It would be more dangerous but that idea altogether excited me, I was always really competitive and liked a good challenge and my first one would be conquering the night.

I arrived at the league building at around sixish with no real snags other than stopping and saying hi to Mrs. Birkovich. A nice old lady from Kalos who ran a local bakery and always snuck me pastries, saying "Eat up, you is much too skinny."

I was greeted by a young receptionist, who took my parental consent notice and told me the testing room was two doors down on my left and to take a seat outside and wait for my name to be called. When I got there I found three people waiting ahead of me. One was a young excited boy with a nervous twitch, another was a girl about my age with a heavily gothic-inspired look and one was a lady that looked in her mid-thirties wearing a pretty green and floral dress. I took my seat next to the fidgeting boy.

"Hi! My names Connor what's yours?" He immediately began sticking his hand out at me. I did not know what to do. I was not a social kid at all, mainly because I never went to school, preferring to spend my time wandering around town instead and dedicating myself to the lifestyle I wanted to do rather than just sit and learn things I could learn with a simple Goodra search on the web. So with a sigh instead looked at the boy's hand, and then switched seats to beside the gothic-looking girl. She was not too enthused about it but I kept my mouth shut and I guess that helped. The boy, on the other hand, looked dejected and muttered to himself.

Eventually one by one, they all took there turns, the boy and the gothic girls passed, the women failed and then it was my turn and I was more nervous than I had ever been in my entire life. I walked in and there was the man sitting down at the table, I took my seat across from him.

"Hello I'm Mr. Allacord, I'll be your league examiner." He said monotonically. "In front of you is a piece of paper, please fill it out within the league-mandated time of one hundred and twenty minutes." He droned on unenthusiastically. "If you fail to answer all the questions you may still pass if you score high enough on the other questions. When I start the timer the examination will begin." He said gesturing to the clock before him, I grabbed the testing paper and two number two pencils and got ready. "You may begin your examination." He said and I started, filling out my name as fast as I could.

Q1. Explain the various threat levels for pokemon and give at least two examples for each threat group.

Oh, this was easy.

"The various threat levels are there to measure how dangerous a pokemon is to society. There are five core threat levels. Minor, Major. Expert, Legend, and Mythic.

Minor threats include most first forms of pokemon or anything that would have a hard time killing you, things like the Caterpie, Rattata or Pidgey.

Major threats were things that were relatively easy to manage but at the same time could do some real damage if let loose. This was things like Rhyhorn or Beedrill, deadly but still manageable.

Expert level threats were things that took multiple experienced trainers to take down and could do serious damage if let loose. Things like Charizard or Salamence.

Legendary threats were the worst of the worst, if let loose they could destroy entire cities or ecosystems by themselves and took league organized teams, Gym leaders or even the Elite four to deal with. These were pokemon that had horrible legends told about them. Things like Gyarados, Snorlax or Tyranitar. They were true Monsters.

Then there Mythic, which people debate is even a real threat level. These are Mythical, supposed gods of these lands. Things like Moltres, Suicune or most famous of them all Arceus. If you see one of these you run, as fast and as far as you can because chances are, you're already dead."

Q2. What are things trainers can do in case of a pokemon related emergency?

"Well, that really depends on the emergency, how long the trainers have been training and/or the number of badges the trainer has.

For example, a beginner trainer with one or two badges could not handle a major or expert level situation. However, instead, they could help with helping evacuate nontrainers. They could help set up a medical area and then heal the stronger and more experienced trainer's pokemon and ultimately set up a support area or perimeter."

Q3. What are the big jobs that you can go into during or after completing the league circuit?

"Competitive battler, Ranger corps, Political/League official, Breeder or Researcher. However to go into more detail.

A competitive battler is one you can only go into after eight or more badges, sure there are amateur tourneys but it's the eight badgers that really make the money. In competitive battling, there are high stakes high-pressure tournaments. In which pokemon often die, however, these are the big-time celebrities, everybody and anyone who follows anything to do with pokemon knows these peoples names. And often time winning just one major tournament will have you financially set for life.

The Ranger Corps is the military, you can join as early as two badges but most people join between four and eight. These are the first line of defense against major and expert level threats, first to respond on the scene in case of national emergencies. They are our police force and often times the only thing separating the wild and ourselves. And of course the first boots on the ground in any sort of war, much like the war of unification about thirty years back, that unified Kanto and Johto into one government. Within them, there is multiple tiers, branches, and specialization but everyone starts out in the basic boot camp. And the basic troops. Only when you prove yourself do you go into a specialization.

Political/League officials are league finishers. They have finished the entire circuit and a lot of the time have defeated the pokemon league. Yup, power is everything, and if you are stronger than everyone else you get to make the rules. The positions that hold power are the gym leaders and the elite four. You can only become an elite member by defeating the elite four and taking one of there places. You can become a gym leader by defeating the elite four and taking another leaders place or by defeating all eight gym leaders and then becoming one of there apprentices. The way the system works is that all four elite four members get one vote, the champion gets two and eight combined gym leaders from Kanjo are also equal to one vote.

A pokemon breeder requires at least four badges, but most successful breeders will have eight. They breed and sell pokemon to all experience levels of trainers and all kinds of trainers and it's a great way to make a living, especially if you own your own breeding ranch or work at one that gives commission. However, making two Snorlax or Tyranitar breed when they don't want to is very risky, so you better have some highly trained pokemon to defend you.

Last is a researcher which surprisingly requires no badges. However, it's highly recommended you get at least a couple because most of the time you will be doing field research in places where there is fire-breathing lizards or giant Krookodiles and if you get too close without a strong pokemon, well to put it simply you're dead."

Similar questions continued onwards for the next twenty or so questions and altogether it took me about two and a half hours to complete my test. When I handed it in I felt very confident in myself, I had been studying and looking stuff up online for the better part of the last three years after all. However, it took another three hours until my test was marked and finished and four those three hours I was in a steady panic. thinking that it couldn't take that long unless I for sure failed. However, eventually they called me by my name and I learned that I passed alongside the goth girl and Connor the twitchy boy. Us three were escorted into a separate room where Mr. Allacord was waiting with a smile on his face.

"Well, it seems you three passed your league-mandated test. Now we need to get into the real business." He said strictly. "These," He said gesturing towards some electronic devices on the counter. "Are your standard pokedexes. They will be your lifeline on your journey. They have an encyclopedic knowledge of all known pokemon in the world, a tracking system in case you are not seen or in contact for a long time and work as a phone. They also have access to the internet as long as you're not in a cave or the excesses of the wild. Whatever you do, do not lose them, they are expensive to replace and if you're staying out in the wild for longer than a week, make sure to contact someone or a league pokecenter for how long you plan on staying. Otherwise, you may end up with a squad of Rangers looking for you when you don't need it and not helping someone who does." He explained and we all nodded vigorously.

"Remember that if the league calls upon you in aid, you must respond to the summons, if you do not have a good enough reason as to why you missed the summon, you will be fined and possibly suspended if you continue to ignore a summons. Lastly and unfortunately we do not have the same funding as large cities like Goldenrod nor labs like Pallet or Newbark so you will have to provide yourself with your own starter pokemon. That is all, you may leave." We all thanked him and turned to leave. "Ms, Graham, could you stay behind for a word?" I swore silently and turned around.

"Ms. Graham I'd like to talk to you about your test results." He said and I swallowed nervously.

"What did I do wrong?" I asked nervously.

"That's just the thing, Ms. Gertrude, you did nothing wrong. You scored with a test result of Ninety-Seven percent. Something Ms. Gertrude only did three times in the past century, two of which were by trainers Red and Blue, who were arguably the two smartest trainers of the century." He said appraisingly and I hide to hide my face so he would not see my blush. "The league would like to congratulate you by offering you a scholarship."

"What kind of Scholarship?" I asked warily.

"We will upgrade your pokedex to that of a researcher license level and provide you with a league provided started pokemon. Something that we normally don't do around here." He stated firmly.

"And the catch is?" I asked uncertainly.

"Ah, I knew you'd get that." He said the first smile I'd seen on him appear. "The only catch is that you catch and send as many pokemon as possible to league-mandated research centers, that and you complete the first three gyms within your first year of journeying."

"Three gyms in one year?" I asked loudly.

"Yes, after that there yours to keep but, Champion Goldberg, Red, and Blue all passed this within there the first year, and Goldberg barely scraped a pass on his league-mandated test." He explained and I began to think about it. A league starter most likely from a high-class breeder with good genetics would help me out in my goal greatly and the extended pokedex abilities and accessibility would help my journey.

"Alright, I'll do it." I decided firmly.

"It's settled then, now would you follow me?" He said turning around and walking to a computer that was all pre-setup. "Now just insert your pokedex in there." He said and I followed his instructions and after a few minutes of it downloading some new programs, it was solved. "Good, now as for your starter, we knew someone like you would want something with diversity, something that you could mold into your own." He said smiling widely gesturing to a pokeball on the desk in front of us.

"What is it?" I asked excitedly, dozens of options running through my head.

"Why don't you open it and see yourself?" He said and I shot him a look. I picked up the ball feeling it in my hands, it felt right. Then I clicked the release button, which kicked back at me causing me to accidentally drop the ball and Mr. Allacord to chuckle. Out emerged a cute brown fox and I smiled broadly.

"An Eevee?" I asked turning towards him excitedly.

"Yes, mam specially bread from Unova, so it has skills only Unovan or Eevee's bred from Unova are said to possess." He replied and my smile grew wider. This was the perfect pokemon for me to start out with, I was already theorycrafting its evolutions and the possibilities for my team, a hundred different scenarios flying through my head. However I didn't do all that planning and research on Murkrows for nothing and I was still gonna go forward with that plan, so I needed something that could mesh well type-wise with the bird. After a couple of minutes, my brain clicked and I already knew what I was gonna evolve it into.

"Vortumna," I whispered.

"What was that?" Mr. Allacord asked.

"Its name will be Vortumna," I said smiling though the Eevee didn't even react, of course, it wouldn't know it's own name yet. Instead, it wandered around me and Allard sniffing our feet. I reached down and scratched it behind the ears and it gave a soft mewl and cuddled up against me, already my heart was melting. "Thank you very much for everything," I said picking up my pokeball and recalling Vortumna.

"It was my pleasure." He said smiling. "Now go on and make Cherrygrove proud."

* * *

When I arrived at the park my usual crowd was there alongside my murder. I led the small Murkrow I had picked out to the edge of the flock. threw a french fry to her and when she was distracted hit her as hard as I could with a pokeball. The surrounding murder all jumped up and flew away. I quickly released Vortumna beside the pokeball and told her to tackle the Murkrow as soon as it popped out. After two long seconds, the pokeball exploded with a flash and the Murkrow popped out looking dazed. The trap was set though and Vortumna tackled it to the ground and began clawing at its chest. It quickly retaliated with a peck to her chest and sent Vortumna flying. Before it could fly away however I Murkrow with another pokeball and had Vortumna lie in wait again. However this time it didn't matter the Murkrow was caught. When I looked around there was no Murkrow to be found, unfortunately for the rest of my life, I could never go near a Murkrow again without it flying off. They communicated and they knew who I was. It didn't matter though I got my girl.

I picked up my new friend and released her, immediately she tried to fly away. I recalled her and released her again, she tried this three more times before she stopped. When I released her again, she sat their feathers puffed out pouting making me smile. I knew she was gonna be a piece of work, but first things first I needed to heal her wounds before we set out. I leaned down and she jumped away. I lured her with a fry and reluctantly she came closer, there I nailed her with a quick spritz from a potion and she jumped away appalled at being betrayed again. However, when she realized the potion made her feel better she calmed down a bit. I smiled some more and recalled her, I would wait till we got to the forest to let her out again.

So with a smile on my face and a hop in my step and Vortumna by my side. I set out to the city gates.

* * *

When we got to the city gates a guard sat there in wait. I flashed him my pokedex and he waved me through with a nod and a smile. It was getting decently late but I wanted to start moving as fast and as far as I could. When I stepped through the gates I was amazed, before me lay a path leading into a lush and wild forest. I knew that the path would be fastest and easiest way to get to the next town and that I was on a time limit. However I immediately turned and began walking left into the forest, I didn't like to take the easy way. Besides going through the forest this way would naturally let my pokemon grow faster, so I'd spend less time grinding once I got to the city and I would be able to challenge the gym leader sooner… Provided I didn't get lost.

When we got sufficiently far from the road, I let my Murkrow out. Once again she tried flying away and I recalled her and let her out again. This time she stayed. I reached down and tried to stroke her but she jumped away and flew to a branch nearby. I sighed, this was gonna take a while. I instead tried plan B, bribery! I lifted up some berries I'd found from a branch near the start of the forest and ate one to show her it was okay. She flew down and I gave her one, then tried stroking her, she jumped back. So I held one in the air above her, then cautiously lowered my hand. She seemed to get the message and let me stroker her.

"Good girl." I could and then fed her the berry. At this point I knew two things, one the bribery seemed to be working and two I was gonna need a lot more berries. However, Vortumna seemed to be getting jealous as she quickly ran and shoved her head between my hand and the Murkrow causing the bird to fly off into the trees again in a fright. "Don't worry I haven't forgotten about you," I said smiling and rubbing the little fox.

We spent the next two hours walking along the forest path, Vortumna by my side and the Murkrow flying along above us. Every time it thought I wasn't looking it tried to escape and every time I recalled and then released her. Until finally she got it and began sulkily following me and dropping branches on my head. Every time this happened Vortumna would growl and jump up at her as if to try and attack her and then look at me expectantly. It got to the point where the Murkrow was dropping things on my head less to retaliate at me and more because she found Vortumna so hilarious. By the twentieth time something dropped on my head I recalled her and released her on the ground where Vortumna promptly tackled her hard, she stopped dropping things on my head after that.

When the third hour struck, we stumbled into a small clearing. I knew I was hungry and I could tell the others were too, so I stopped so we could have supper. I pulled out some of the pokefood I got for Vortumna and then two sandwiches for me and the Murkrow. I knew soon enough I'd want them to hunt on there own, but Vortumna was much too small and I knew the Murkrow would try and run away so this would do for now. Vortumna mewled happily and I couldn't help and smile at the small fox, she was so happy all the time and it was very contagious. To my surprise, the Murkrow also cawed happily at the sandwich I gave her. I knew I had to give her a name soon, lest Murkrow stick and that was the last thing I wanted, but I wasn't sure what to give her. I began running names through my head, Loki, Moxie, Morpheus until finally, I settled on one. Nyx, goddess of night. It made sense as she was a huge diva, it went in tandem with Vortumna's nickname and I was shaping our entire traveling schedule around her, so she was essentially our goddess of night.

"You liked that eh Nyx?" I asked her and reaching down to stroke her, she just stared confused back at me blinking. "Of course you get a name too," I said smiling that she let me stroke her this time. She cawed and flew away to a taller branch but I noticed her looking at me a little bit more interested before and I smiled to myself. After resting for a little longer I noticed Vortumna beginning to get droopy eyes, so I set up my sleeping bag and then washed up. I went to go to sleep however, I noticed a brown ball of fur curled up and dozing away in my sleeping bag. I smiled and trying my hardest not to wake her I shifted her over until I could slip inside my sleeping go to sleep. As I felt sleep take me I felt something warm and harry slip inside the bag beside me and I cuddled it close to my chest.

I was awoken suddenly by something wet running across my face and when I opened my eyes I saw an excited and yipping Vortumna begin running circles around the camp. I looked around and noticed that the sun was just beginning to rise I had woken up just about the time that I wanted to. Looking around I noticed that Nyx was nowhere nearby and when I checked her GPS location on my pokedex, I saw it was about a kilometer west of here. Sighing I realized she must have made a dash for it while I slept and I quickly recalled and released her.

"Nice try!" I said smirking down at her as she looked positively aghast at seeing me again. "But You're not going anywhere." I said and I could see in her eyes she believed me."Listen you're stuck with me, that's that. However, it'll be a lot easier on you if you actually listen to me, that and you'll get a lot more of those sandwiches." I suggested and at those last words I saw a flash of something fly through her eyes. "So what'll it be?" I asked her. She promptly cawed in my face and then flew up and began dropping twigs on my head again. Well at least I had Vortumna and when I turned around to look at the fox I saw her running around jumping at a leaf blowing through the air. I sighed, this was a gonna be a rough day.

We continued onwards for a while longer, running to no one and nothing and eventually we stopped for a quick meal in which I was able to convince Nyx to come down and join us for. After that I made them start running drills and by them, I mean Vortumna, as Nyx again retreated into the trees. I placed rocks on the ground spaced apart and made Vortumna run and dash between them as fast as she could. At first, she didn't get it and kept trying to jump up on me to play but eventually, I got her to understand. Her first attempt she bailed hard, but she had the determination of a Luxray and soon enough was able to weave in between five rocks in under four seconds, good for a start but by I wanted to get that down to two seconds.

After that, I packed up camp and we began walking through the forest again. In which we ran into a couple more Spinaraks for Nyx to snack on and one for me to send back to the labs as it was larger than the average specimen Then Nyx got into a nasty fight with a Hoothoot when she intruded upon its tree and I had to recall her back before she got too hurt. The Hoothoot was massive and just beginning to develop the large horns that Noctowls have upon there head, I knew Nyx had no chance, but I caught the Hoothoot anyways and sent it back for research, I already had a flying type. Then I reached down and healed my little princess of a Murkrow and she stuck by me for a while, at least until I pissed her off enough to fly up and start dropping twigs on my head again. After another hour of travel, we ran into our first trainer in a wide clearing.

"Hey!" they yelled waving at me and I could make out distinctly through the darkness that they were male. I quietly waved back. "What are you doing out here so late?" He asked and I could make out he was roughly in his mid-thirties, had the beginning of a gut and had just started to bald. The sort of look of your stereotypical suburban dad.

"Uh, less crowded," I said shrugging, trying not to let my nerves get the better of me.

"Fair enough." He said also shrugging. "So uh… Wanna battle?" He asked casually.

"Two on two" I asked.

"Sure." He said in that same casual tone. We walked thirty paces away from each other and then turned around and faced one and another. I smiled cockily, it was my first battle and I was not gonna lose this.

"Nyx do this for me and I'll give you an extra sandwich tomorrow," I said recalling and releasing her. I had hoped that bribery would work on the bird and it seemed it did as Nyx, flew in the air to take on the challenger. He released a small, roundish gray and white pokemon which my pokedex identified as a Munchlax, the pre-evolution of Snorlax. I grinned widely, they were typically slow and customed to day time use and I could use that to my advantage. "Up," I yelled gesturing upwards and to my surprise Nyx obeyed.

"Stockpile!" I heard him yell and toss some berries to the Munchlax who promptly stood above them defensively.

"Peck." "Tackle." We both shouted and Nyx flew down and collided with the small bear, his beak putting a gash in the bear's side, while the bear sent her barrelling away backward, and she was just able to continue flying and avoid colliding with the ground.

"Swallow." I heard him command and the bear plucked one of his stash of berries off the ground and swallowed it, it quickly healed the gash down to a small cut. I swore loudly, this was gonna get us nowhere.

"Taunt it," I yelled and Nyx quickly began her favorite trick of flying around dropping twigs and branches, I was just happy this time it wasn't on me. The Munchlax began to go berserk following Nyx's movement below her until it finally started climbing a tree to get at her."

Now thief." I yelled when the small bear reached a branch sufficiently high up and the Murkrow dashed below and gobbled up the stash of berries the Munchlax had left unguarded. "Now, knock it out of the tree," I said grinning widely, the victory coming into my mind as the Murkrow flew up and knocked the Munchlax from its precarious position on a branch before it could hit the ground, however, a beam of red lights surrounded it and it was recalled.

"So that's 1-0 for you?" The man said smiling widely.

"Why'd you recall it?" I asked curiously to the man.

"It was clear you won, no use letting it get any more hurt right?" He explained and I grinned, he actually seemed like a decent person. However my grin dropped when I saw the next pokemon he released, a small yellow and brown rodent crackling with electricity, a Pikachu and I quickly recalled Nyx.

"Vortumna, you're up!" I said gesturing forward and my little Eevee ran forward bouncing with energy. The Pikachu opened up with a crackling bolt of lightning which Vortumna was just barely able to dodge, it seemed those drills were working well. "Quick attack," I yelled and the brown fox zipped forward and nailed the electric mouse before zipping away.

"Thunder Wave!" The man yelled, and a wide arc of lightning emerged from the Pikachu and collided with Vortumna who surprisingly was not hurt but instead seemed to be unable to move. Before I could do anything another crackling bolt of lightning slammed into Vortumna sending her sprawling through the air. However, she jumped up quickly, seemingly able to move again.

"That's my girl," I yelled triumphantly. "Now Quick attack again!" I yelled and she dashed forward slamming into the Pikachu again, sending it and collapsing in a heap where it was recalled. Forgetting all the embarrassment I ran forward and hugged my Eevee who snuggled up against me happily and mewling loudly.

"Here ya go little lady." He said handing me a stack of cash, and I blinked a confusedly a couple of times before remembering where I was.

"Thanks," I said my face turning scarlet as I slowly took the money.

"How many badges do you have?" He asked curiously and I could see a weird twinkle in his eye I wasn't sure I liked.

"Um, None…" I said cautiously and he began laughing heartily.

"What's your name?"

"They call me MG," I said again very nervously.

"Well MG, my names Cale and I'm gonna be following your career very closely, you see I'm an eight badger." He said again laughing hard.

"But what? How? What? I beat you?" I stammered out nervously causing him to laugh even harder.

"I'm a breeder, and as most breeders know, ya gotta train the pokemon before you sell them." He said smiling down at me. "I like to train out here as there typically stronger than closer to the city but since this is a relative beginner route close to a city, the cullings keep the stronger pokemon at bay. You just caught me while I was training a couple of newborns." He explained and I nodded along feeling a little disappointed. Of course, I hadn't actually defeated an eight badger. "Don't look so discouraged little one." He said smiling down at me. "You still out strategized and beat an eight badger who was fighting at an equal level." And this perked me back up.

"So I hope you don't mind if I register your trainer profile?" He asked excitedly.

"No, not at all." I croaked out, unable to believe any of this. We both quickly took out our pokedexes.

"Oh ho! You have a researcher dex I see?" He says grinning widely. "How long have you been training?" He asked .

"Um… This is my second day." I squeaked out and he let out another belly laugh.

"You just keep getting more and more special with every second." He said and laughed again loudly, I was beginning to like this man. His happiness and laughter were infectious and you couldn't not smile when around him. "Here let me show you how it is done." He said and then exchanged dexes with me and showed me how to register him. "Now I like you little MG and I see great things, so if you need a discount breeder mon, you contact me alright?" He said and again I could not believe my fortune.

"What's the catch?" I blurted out before I knew what I was saying.

"Ah yes, I forgot you are an intelligent little girl." He said bringing his hand to his face. "Only two catches, one: you tell me when you are battling in a gym or tournament. Two Unless we don't have it, you get your pokemon from my breeding farm." He explained and stuck out his hand.

"Deal," I said shaking his hand and willing my face to look less like a tomato than it already did.

"Alright now, I must return to the city to heal these two little guys." He said gesturing to the two pokeballs containing the Munchlax and the Pikachu. "Would you like a ride?" He asked and I shook my head. "I figured as much, best of luck little MG and remember to contact me when you face the Violet city gym.' He reminded me and I nodded vigorously.

As soon as he took off, I released Nyx and hugged her tight, she squawked and squealed and fought wildly, and I'm sure I still have a few scars from that first hug but I was too overjoyed to care. When I released her, she immediately flew up to her usual perches in trees and it took me taking out two sandwiches to convince her to come down and let me pet her. In which I sat and gushed over and over about how amazing her and Vortumna were. Finally, I saw the sun begin to peak its head over the horizon, so I unfurled my sleeping bag and set up camp. Again when I was done I saw Vortumna curled up on top of the sleeping bag and I smiled softly at her. I quickly scooted under the blankets and cuddled her closely again. I had trouble falling asleep that night.

I was happy and excited about a new kind of high and nothing was gonna stop me now… Or so I thought.

* * *

Edited as of 09/06/2019


	3. Through the Fire and The Flames

_It was so hot! It's January, why is it so hot?_ That was all I could think as I opened my eyes groggily, something headbutting against my chest frantically. I couldn't see the sky, even though it was clearly still nightttime and there should be a full sky of stars. I couldn't see anything just a large black cloud blotting out the sky I could hear crashing behind me and I jumped up to look. No living creature greeted me though instead, I could see a monster made out of flames smoke and ash spreading its way quickly towards me. I quickly recalled Vortumna, slung my bag around my back and began sprinting in forward away from from the flames as fast as I possibly could, ignoring the food and my sleeping bag I left behind.

I checked my Pokedexs GPS and saw there was a notification from the Ranger Corps for all trainers to evacuate the area as fast as possible. I also saw that Nyx took off again and I recalled her not wanting her to get stuck in this inferno. For now, my entire focus was on getting out of this alive, so I continued running as fast as possible, weaving my way in between trees as fast as I could, I was making good distance but I couldn't keep this up forever and the flames were starting to gain ground against me. By my estimate It was maybe over a kilometer away. I came crashing through some tree`s into a clearing and fell onto my stomach. When I looked up I saw a group of male trainers maybe a year older than I was sleeping away without a care in the world. Until I came crashing in and they all sprang up terrified.

"RUN!" I yelled quickly getting to my feet and getting ready to sprint.

"Why?" One of them a tall lanky brown haired boy said annoyed

"Fire." I gasped. "Big fire!"

"Wait, what? What do you mean?" A short blonde haired boy with a blue baseball cap.

"Big fire, coming this way. No time to explain." I said as fast as I could, I could feel the heat beginning to prickle my back again.

"Oh my god." I heard another one of them say a chubby boy with black hair and saw him point behind me. So against my own better judgment I turned around and saw the flames approaching at an even more rapidly.

The last a big, blonde haired boy with glasses was silent and already running.

"Run!" I yelled again and began sprinting forward again. I heard shouts from behind and when I chanced a look backward I saw the three of them crashing through the undergrowth behind me and catching me quickly until finally, they were running beside me.

"Shit!" I heard one of them yell.

"David" I heard another yell and I stopped again against my better judgment. The one named David was the chubby black haired guy and he was sprawled out on the ground wrapped in an old and abandoned Spinarak web, flames approaching dangerously close and the other guy stood in shock. There, other friend, the lanky brown haired boy went running past us, not looking back. Recklessly I ran forward and grabbed the man stood still and began pulling him away from the fire and his friend. Emotionless and expressionless he ran alongside me and in the distance, we could hear David's dying screams of agony directed through the forest like a symphony of pain echoing our flight from the fire.

The flames were catching up to us too fast. I was panicking and I was tired and the smoke in my lungs was making me cough terribly as me and this other guy ran side by side, not a word was spoken between us, However, ahead of us we saw a large lake through a clearing of tree and we ran towards it as fast as possible, I could feel horrible pain against my entire backside and I knew I was slowly being singed, and a few times I felt my legs almost buckle. However, I was determined, I was not gonna die, not now, right at the beginning of my journey, not like this. So with determination, I and the other guy went crashing through the treeline and over an edge submerging into the cold January lake waters. There we met his other two friends.

"What the fuck Andrew." I heard the guy behind me shout at the lanky black-haired fellow as we approached shallower waters where we could stand. "You just let David die like that? Didn't even stop to help him?" He asked screaming at the guy named Andrew.

"I know, I'm sorry Jeffrey, I just I panicked." Andrew cried, tears streaming down his face as fast as the water droplets from the lake.

"And you!" The man named Jeffrey said turning towards me. "Why'd you pull me away?" He yelled angrily.

"You would've died," I stated bluntly and emotionlessly.

"I could've saved him." He said back more to himself than to me.

"No, you couldn't of," I said again bluntly. "That was Spinarak web, the strongest of insectile webs. You would've had to precision cut your friend out of it, and it would've taken at least fifteen minutes. You had five." I explained as emotionlessly and rationally as I could, in truth I was panicking and filled with guilt myself but I didn't wanna let that show.

"I cou-" He began.

"No! You couldn't of." His friend, the one who had remained quiet so far interjected and the man named Jeffrey bowed his head deeply.

"We should get out of here," I said as I saw burning trees begin to teeter and fall into the lake around us.

"Where? Everythings on fire." Jeffrey yelled gesturing to the forests around us.

"There's an island in the center," I said pointing to a small island in the center of the lake about a twenty-minute swim away from where we were.

"It's so far though," Andrew complained.

"It's better than dying here." The quiet one said shrugging and began to swim towards the island. We all looked to each other and then began to follow his lead, though after about five minutes we were all on our backs lightly pushing ourselves too tired to actually swim.

"Hey, guys?" Andrew asked nervously. "What lives in this lake?"

"Uh…Wooper. Bidoof, Goldeen, and Barboach. Oh and of course Magikarp, why?" I asked curiously.

"It's just I felt something brush against me." He said anxiety evident in his voice and then let out a loud scream as he was dragged under a pool of red rising up from his last position. The quiet guy and I quickly flipped over and began swimming as fast as we could towards the island as we were much closer to it then the fiery shores at this point.

"Andrew!" We heard Jeffrey scream but he too flipped over and began paddling right behind us.

The quiet guy made it to the island first, there was a small cliff which he pulled himself up and over. I made it next and he grabbed my hand and helped pull me up. After that we both turned to help Jeffrey up but when we looked down all we saw was another pool of red and something large and blue descending towards the bottom of the lake.

"What happened?" The quiet guy said as we both lay on our backs exhausted and panting.

"Fucking... Gyarados…" I wheezed.

"But I thought there was no more wild lake Gyarados? That they culled them all years ago just after the Lake of Rage fiasco?" He asked panic evidently within his voice.

"Well, I guess they missed some or… They just recently evolved or any other combination of things." I said panic now evident in my own voice, trying to take in all that I had seen today.

"I'll send the rangers our coordinates," I said shakily and the quiet guy just nodded. I plugged in our coordinates and it said with all the panicking people within the wildfire and the high level of casualties that they wouldn't be able to grab us until tomorrow. So despite everything that happened today, I suggested we made a fire so we didn't freeze to death in the middle of the night and the quiet guy nodded and together we set out to gather kindling and logs. When all was done we sat there in silence in front of the fire while Jeffrey babbled to himself wildly.

"What's your name?" He asked after what seemed like hours but was most likely not even a half hour.

"MG," I said back plainly.

"I meant your real name." He said smiling hesitantly.

"People know me as MG, so I go by MG," I answered back and he went quiet again. "What's yours?" I asked back, less to know and more so to be polite/

"Robin Maloney." He said smiling back at me. "Pleasure to actually meet ya MG." He said sticking out his hand and I shook it firmly. "So you're a trainer eh? Me too." He said and I could distinctly make out an accent in his voice.

"Oh really how many badges?" I asked curiously, it's obvious he was a trainer because he was out in the woods but I wanted to know more about my competition.

"Two from here and one from Sinnoh where I am from." He said and my curiosity was peaked even more.

"You're from Sinnoh?" I asked trying not to let my curiosity shine through my voice. The Johto/Kanto region and Sinnoh has a history of friendship going way back, being some of the only regions to the north and had a history of great trade plans and economic growth, Sinnoh being one of the biggest processors of metals gems, and oils with there vast underground network and Kanto's silph being the biggest manufacturer and exporter of technology in the entire world, it made an ideal and perfect partnership

Yup, born and raised!" He said smiling and lifting his hand up in the air as an acknowledgment. "I'm just here to earn a few easy badges before heading home and joining our ranger corps." He said smiling widely.

"Ah, so you're gonna be a ranger?" I asked moving slightly closer to the fire to warm up a bit.

"Yeah wasn't my life's ambition, I wanted to be champion." He said chuckling to himself.

"Well, what changed?" I asked feeling uneasy about my own plans now.

"Well I'm fifteen, been on my journey for five years now and only have three badges, At this point, I'd rather just serve my country than rule it." He said a light gleam behind his eyes. "That and Dawn Paladino."

"Who's Inyssa Dawn" I auriously.

"Greatest champion the Sinnoh region ever had, somehow even better than Cynthia Shirona." He said and I could sense the pride in his voice. "Changed the whole system, made it a democracy." He stated and I stared at him blankly.

"Democracy?" I asked and I could hear his laughter boomed through the night.

"What are they teaching you kids in school?" He asked laughing even harder.

"Uh… I never went to school." I muttered weakly and with that, he stopped laughing as suddenly as he started.

"Oh… That makes more sense than." He said awkwardly. "She created a second branch of government, with equal power than the champion. One that is voted in by the people, they're called the prime minister and they can't be the current champion. She did it so it's not entirely about strength but instead what they believe in. Not only that but every vote has equal power, champion, gym leader, PM, elite, you name it. Not only that but nontrainers are also voted into seats of power to help give them a voice too." He explained and I tried to absorb it all in.

"Wait so if everyone's vote is equal, how do the champion and prime minister have equal power," I asked confused about the whole validity of the situation.

"Ah, sorry about that eh? The prime minister and champion have the ability to veto any bill together." He explained and I nodded satisfied.

"So who's the current prime minister?" I asked and he smiled wildly.

"Why Dawn Paladino of course, seventy-eight percent of the entire region voted for her." He said smiling proudly.

"But didn't you just say the champion couldn't be the prime minister?" I asked annoyed at his explanations.

"Yes, but Dawn Paladino, resigned as champion, gave it back to Cynthia so she could take the post she was voted into." He said smiling widely.

"Then why don't you go for the championship?" I yelled back angrily going back to the point that started this entire conversation.

"Ah because I like our leaders, and would rather serve them than lead them." He said smiling and I tried not to scream. Soon enough the exhaustion was too much and we fell asleep.

* * *

After hours and many nightmares of giant Gyarados going from city to city blowing up the Johto region and watching Jeremy and Andrew being eaten over and over again while David screamed burning to death, I was finally awoken by the rangers the next moment and when I did wake up I felt a searing pain in the back of my legs.

"Excuse me." I heard one of them say. "Excuse me, miss? I have a few questions for you." They said calmly, almost paternally and I awoke rubbing my eyes wildly.

"Um yes?" I half asked half yawned looking up into the eyes of a pretty female ranger most likely in her mid-thirties

"I just have a couple questions for you." She repeated and I nodded at her. "Are you the one who sent us the coordinates?" She asked and I nodded. "Where is the registered owner of those pokeballs?" She asked pointing at Jeremy's pokeballs and I went numb again.

"Gyarados, Gyarados in the lake., I said voice shaking and breaking each time I said the horrible creatures name.

"Oh, my-Alex!" She gasped and then yelled. "We need to evacuate asap, we got a code 130 in this lake and are in dire need of the Zeus core I repeat a code 130." I heard her say speaking very fast into her walky-talky. "Don't worry we're gonna get you out of here." She said flashing me a reassuring and paternal smile and it was in that moment that for the first time since I was a young kid I broke into sobs and she just hugged me and held me close until I stopped.

"S-sorry." I said as I finally stopped crying.

"Nothing to apologize for, its natural." She said flashing me that same reassuring and paternal smile and I smiled back at her even if I didn't really feel like smiling. Eventually, a few more rangers arrived, one of them had an Abra which would teleport us to Violet city for immediate medical care. The rest I saw all had powerful electric types including a Jolteon, Electivire, two Manectrics. A Luxray, Two Magnezones and a Lanturn, all fully equipped and ready to fight. Just seeing these made me feel better as it meant that any Gyarados alive in the lake would be toast in mere minutes.

Before we could see them in action, however, Robin and I were instructed over to the Abra and in what I can only explain as a horribly painful jerk from the small of your back and an incredibly dizzying and awful sensation Robin and I were both throwing up in the middle of a hospital room. We both turned and gave each other a sickly and dark grin and then were rushed into our beds from nurses who began doing all sorts of tests and other things on us.

We just continued grinning at each other and then laughing as hard as we both could. We did it, we survived and it was the funniest thing in the world. The nurses may have thought us mad but we didn't care, no one went through what we did, no one went through the fire and the flames and carried on, no one watched two people be horrifically eaten by Gyarados and then slept on the same island surrounded by them. So we laughed and we laughed until our bellies ached and we couldn't laugh anymore, and then we slept.

* * *

Edited as of 09/9/2019

Inyssa Dawn is a reference to the fanfic Child of Thorns


	4. Time

I was forced to stay in the hospital for two weeks, they said I had severe burns down my back and the back of my legs. I was fed a mixture of Burn heal and Rawst berries through an IV in my arm and it was great as it made the pain go away and made me go all giddy and happy, at least until they cut it away and deemed me alright to heal naturally, that just hurt like a fucking bitch. Robin came and visited me a couple of times and we talked more about Sinnoh, Sinnoh politics and other things though we never talked about that day, making careful to never mention the horrible things we both witnessed.

I learned that he met Jeremy, David, and Andrew when he first came here around a year ago. It was there the first year of traveling and since he'd been around for a while he took them under his wing. Felt he had to show them how to survive if he was gonna be a ranger…. Yeah, I could tell it was destroying him that he couldn't save any of them, even if I lived too. However, after registering each other in one and another pokedexes. He stopped visiting, he left to continue his journey and I couldn't blame him, I was itching to do the same thing.

I also learned that the night of the fire, both my parents were dead. Surprising myself I cried heavily at the news. After years of wanting them dead, years of abuse, yelling and screaming and hitting and neglecting me they were finally gone and I was beyond sad, I mean they would never be proud of me, never see me prosper and succeed or cheer me on? I guess what my dad did in the end really hit me hard, and so I cried for a couple of days upon hearing the news. Then I did what I always did with my feelings, hid it deep down where I hoped to never touch it again. Plus now my journey was something serious, now I didn't actually have a home to return too.

Finally, apparently there was to be a big autopsy on Gold's body. It was now suspected that it was caused by some sort of psychic attack that scrambled his brain. Since there was no grown wild pokemon strong enough to take on Gold it made no sense that it wouldn't be some form of accident and as such foul play was strongly suspected to be a part of it.

A the end of the two weeks I was angry, I now only had three-hundred-forty-eight days left to beat three gyms and I was already on a tight schedule beforehand, now at least in violet I'd probably have to start taking shortcuts, and I didn't like taking shortcuts because they were unreliable, I liked having a plan with as much certainty and the least amount of variables as possible. Luckily I had a lot of time to plan in those two weeks and I came up with something that if done right would most likely guarantee me ahead of schedule.

Originally I had one-hundred-twenty-one days to beat a gym or seventeen and a half weeks. In my original plan. The average trainer took twenty days to travel from Cherrygrove to Violet city, fifty-two days to Azalea and another fifty-six days to travel through Ilex forest and to Goldenrod. This took away one-hundred-twenty-eight days in traveling alone and that's in perfect conditions. So add roughly another thirty days for unsuspected disasters, another fifteen, for any pokemon I decide to catch and tame. So were at one-hundred-forty-three days, more than a third of the time in traveling alone. that left me with one hundred-eighty-three days within the cities, you have to book a gym battle at least a week beforehand, so that's another twenty-one days and if you lost you couldn't challenge them for another two weeks. On average a trainer loses one in two gym battles, so let's say I lose two, that's another twenty-eight days right there, leaving me with one-hundred-thirty-four days left, More than half my days gone.

I wanted a day to relax when I got into each city and before I left each city, taking away six days and leaving me one-hundred-twenty-eight I wanted two days, to sell pokemon I'd caught but no longer needed and to refurbish all of my supplies, so there goes another six days and I'd like another day to actually see the sights and enjoy these cities. Leaving me with one-hundred-twenty days left and I wanted at least a month for training in between each gym and another four days to review recent gym battles and do my homework on each gym leader. So that's another one-hundred-two days, leaving me with eighteen days leftover. Add three days, as I got to Violet roughly three days before schedule due to the Abra. However, I missed out on seventeen days worth of training in the wild, so add those in and I am left with four days. Four measly days after no other variables to my entire calculations.

I needed to improve that so the first thing I did when I got out of the hospital was to book, a gym battle one week ahead, this meant cutting my training time by a quarter, but it also saved me twenty-one days, leaving me with twenty-five extra days and that was something I could work with. I chose this path despite it taking longer than the Violet to Goldenrod to Ecruteak route for two reasons. It would allow me to maximize my training while traveling which was the easiest and most natural way to make your pokemon stronger and also because I was interested in following the route champion Gold did it. I mean if he was able to do three gyms in one year this way, why wouldn't I have been able to.

So after registering myself for a gym battle I went to the pokemart and restocked on supplies and then I found a small music store, in the middle of town, something I knew was here from the research I did before my journey. There I purchased a small harmonica, and after the owner of the shop teaching me how to use it, I set out to the city limits. You see every great trainer in history has used a code for battling. After all, just saying peck, or wing attack or hyper beam allows an opponent to know exactly what you're going to do and can counter it exactly. However, with codes, it makes a match more about strategy, in both the trainers trying to crack each other's codes and in the way which they can command and adapt on the fly. Every great trainer has had a code.

Lance speaks serpent, through a series of ever-revolving and changing hisses and growls, he can command his dragons to do grand things. Red was a drummer, the first thing he did on his journey was pick up a couple of drumsticks and through a series of sometimes simple and other time complex beats, he was able to take that championship. Blue was a guitarist, playing simple and beautiful melodies to enchant his pokemon to do incredible work. I looked it up, Inyssa Dawn was an incredible singer, Sabrina is psychic, Brock knows how to send vibrations into the ground that only his ground pokemon understand, and Gold. Gold had the most uncrackable code of them all, his commands would yield different results. If he said ice beam, a thunderbolt could appear, however, if he emphasized any syllable slightly different an entirely different move would happen, so from Ice Beam, you could get a thunderbolt, earthquake, rock slide, or even just an ice beam anyways and it changed every single battle. Myself I was gonna go the Red and Blue way with my trusty new harmonica.

Once outside the city limits, I released Vortumna and Nyx. Vortumna immediately ran over and cuddled me, whining all the while and it put a smile on my face. Even Nyx seemed to be pleased to see me, though I might have been imagining it. I decided to reward her for not running away anyways and tossed her an orange berry which she greedily gobbled the first hour I made them run drills and when Nyx didn't, I kept recalling her and releasing her until she finally and reluctantly agreed, I was done with this rebel bullshit. Then I checked there levels. Nyx was around level twelve and Vortumna was level nine. Unlike those silly video games based on Red and Blue's journey. Levels didn't mean everything, they were just a rough baseline of your pokemon's power. It takes in a whole combination of things, like size, strength, training, health and so much more. However, despite this a higher level doesn't mean winning, I mean a level one hundred Rattata is still a rat, despite its high level if it went against even a low leveled Charizard it'd most likely lose. I mean this is a giant fire-breathing dragon that can fly, against a basic form small rat, it's basic biology. However, a strong Raticate might have a chance due to being evolved, and being all-around stronger, faster and bigger.

After the first hour of running basic drills we stopped and had lunch, as it was around noon now. After lunch, I set up some pebbles in a line like cones and made Vortumna dash in between them, while I had Nyx fly in between trees and had her fly as close to them as possible for an hour. I wanted to get there agility a lot higher, especially when I'd be battling the Violet city gem which specialized in flying types. While they did that I practiced playing my harmonica. After that, I spent the next two hours trying to train them to relate certain notes to basic commands. Nyx seemed to pick up on it quick, in which I'm guessing was due to the way birds communicate through songs and pitches but sweet little Vortumna was completely lost and instead just ran forward and tried to cuddle me.

After that, I took my merry band of misfits into the woods, where Nyx tried to escape and I had to recall and release her too much squawking and protest. There I kept walking until we found a clearing which took us about a half hour to find. There, I had Nyx and Vortumna start battling each other. I needed to toughen them up as both were relatively frail pokemon and I wanted to start working on basic strategies. At first, I simply observed them and applied healing items as necessary. However, Nyx kept winning every battle, so I took Vortumna's side and began giving her vocal commands and eventually she started winning every battle. So then I backed away, and let them do their thing again, this time Nyx only won about two-thirds of all the battles. After around three hours of that, it began to get dark, so I packed up and we headed back to civilization. When we got to the city limits it was just around seven o'clock, so we had a small dinner in which I underfed Nyx for trying to run away.

I recalled and got into the city limits at around seven-fifteen. There I headed directly to the library and began looking through any and all videos I could find relating to gym challenges on Falkner, starting from the most recent and going backward, though I made an exception to download Golds battle as soon as I possibly could. I downloaded as many as I could onto my Pokedex and then headed to the local pokecenter to heal my pokemon and find lodging. Thanks to champion Goldberg, all pokecenters must supply free lodging for all trainers and provide free healthcare which would be funded by the government. So that was one thing I certainly had to be thankful for.

When I got all healed up and retired to my room, I released Vortumna to cuddle me and then I began watching the videos I had downloaded. Falkner was an interesting person, winning his league championship thirty-three years ago at the age of fourteen and immediately stepped down to take over his father's place as Violet city gym leader. He blasted through the league in four years, taking down two gyms a year and being the first person ever to defeat the elite four and champion in under six months. Of course, he was supplied with absurdly high-level flying type pokemon by his father, and if you watched his league run it looked as if no one actually tried to beat him. Most likely due to his father political connections, they made a bargain to let him win as long as he stepped down, a common strategy for certain families and dynasties. There was a long history of corruption and nepotism within the region that everyone knew about, but he kept the city safe, so it didn't matter to most people anyway.

When watching the videos I examined every detail I could. I found out that in lower level challenges it was a one on one battle with each challenger able to use two pokemon and that Falkner rotated between five lower-level pokemon that he used. A Murkrow, a Swablu, A Doduo, a Farfetch'd and a Pidgeotto. I also noticed that two out of every three gym battles he used the Pidgeotto. Which means that most likely I'd most likely have to worry about four variables, not five. Out of those four, the Farfetch'd was the easiest to battle and the Murkrow the hardest. Though ultimately I wanted to battle either the Farfetch'd or Doduo as they were naturally flightless birds, which would give Vortumna equal footing against them. Next, I watched Golds.

* * *

" _Ladies and gentleman, welcome one and all to your league sponsored pokemon battle!" An announcer spoke to the crowd as cameras flew across the entire room showing off a cheering crowd. "Today we have a special match, the debut of a mister Ethan Goldberg of Newbark town! The chosen one of Professor Elm.": The announcer yelled to a thunderous applause as the camera zoomed in on Ethan approaching the challenger box. "And here we have the mean! The lean! The scourge of the skies, everybody put your hands together for your own Violet city gym leader, Falkner!" He yelled once more and the stadium erupted into even greater applause. "Battlers, the rules are simple, it'll be a one on one battle, each trainer is allowed two pokemon each and no substitutions." The announcer explained. "Challenger are you ready?" He asked and Gold nodded. "Gym leader are you ready?" He asked and Falkner gave a thumbs up to great applause. "Then begin." The announcer yelled to even greater applause._

 _Immediately Gold on golds side, came a small mammal with fire protruding from it's back, a Quilava. Falkner sent forth his Swablu and with a high humming note, it dived, down upon Golds Quilava._

" _Tackle." Gold said and the Quilave dodged out of the way. "Tackle." He repeated once more and the Quilava shot out flames at the surprised Swablu, engulfing it and taking it out in one shot to incredible applause._

" _My Arceus! What a powerful Quilava." The announcer yelled out. "And the training that went into it, to respond to the wrong commands like that, we might have a champ in the making folks." He yelled out and the camera panned down to an angry Falkner who released his second pokemon a giant Pidgeotto. "Oh my folks, it seems Falkner wants to end this and quick." The announcer yelled out as the bird let out a screech._

" _Ember." Gold yelled out and the Quilava shot out a giant breathe of smoke encasing the entire battlefield. From within, there was a screech, a squawk and when the smoke cleared the Pidgeotto was on the ground knocked unconscious and Gold stood proud and victorious."_

* * *

The footage cut off after that but I was amazed; he ended the battle in only three commands and didn't even need to tell his Quilava what to do within the smoke. I needed to start working towards that as quick as I could. However, I couldn't so instead I stayed up until four AM watching battles on my phone. Then I woke up four hours later and started my training all over again.

I continued this extreme training regimen for the next five days, staying up until four AM every night and training outside the city limits until eight PM every day. In which nothing exciting really happened, except for kicking a few bug trainers with Nyx and on the third day when Vortumna finally cracked the harmonica code and I danced around with her in my arms for a few minutes before going back to training. On the sixth day I only stayed up until ten PM, I needed to be well-rested for the next day and I was happy to have a day to sleep for more than four hours. Until finally the day of my gym battle was here, and I was out of time.

I arrived at the gym at Nine-Forty-Two AM, my gym battle wasn't until Two PM and I was the sixth challenger but I made sure to arrive early so I could watch the gym battles before mine. I watched eagerly from the stands but the first two were completely uninteresting. It was two low-level bug catchers most likely twelve days into their journey, mix in a bit of cockiness and you are left with a clean sweep of there teams and the two poor bastards are sent away crying. The third battle was somewhat interesting, a third badger who narrowly lost to Falkner's teams after some unlucky misses and lucky dodges and then there was the fourth battle.

It was the goth girl that was among the others at the testing center, apparently, her name was Lola Lunningwell; she had made it to Violet on her own too and was already challenging the gym leader. I started the battle completely uninterested, after all, she started just over three weeks ago like I did and I felt that that was too soon for even myself to be challenging the gym leader. So I suspected her to be just another cocky kid that would lose like all the others and my opinion was further cemented when she sent out her first pokemon, a Dunsparce.

Now Dunsparce is among the weakest pokemon in existence. Evolving to be nearly blind within to fit their natural habitat, Dunsparce uses echolocation to navigate the dark cave to hunt smaller animals that live within such as baby Zubat and Teddiursa. However, Zubats live in flocks and hang on ceilings so unless the baby Zubat is injured and left behind or is too stupid to keep up with the flock a Dunsparce will never get to eat and eating Teddiursa means a pissed off Ursaring which is among the worst things to be faced with. There small and insignificant wings mean they can lightly hover off the ground for small periods of time but it's near useless as it uses so much energy that they must instead rest for a long period after. The only useful thing a Dunsparce has in its weaponry is that through its echolocations it is often able to pinpoint the place on an opponent that would cause it the most pain and make it drop its current attack. All of this leads to a pokemon so useless and near extinction that it's a wonder it ever survived this long and that natural selection would most likely take care of it outside of zoos and specialized areas like the Safari Zone. Among competitive battlers, there were only three instances of a trainer ever taking a Dunsparce far in a tournament and none ever made it past fourth place. So I was pretty skeptical about her chances to defeat Falkner.

However, I paid close attention to the battle anyways to try and gauge the Falkners team. He started out with a Natu, something I had not seen him use in any of the videos I had seen. I cursed quietly as this added a sixth variable that I had not planned for as of yet and there was nothing I hated more than unplanned variables and while I watched I began to form strategies within my head.

Lola made the first move, ordering her Dunsparce to use the attack thunder wave which connected with the Natu seriously slowing it down, a move Dunsparce is only TM compatible with, meaning she blew quite a lot of money on this. I had to admit it was a smart move as flying types typically relied on speed something she'd just neutered. Falkner sang a high pitched note and the Natu sent out a wave of psychic energy which connected hard with the Dunsparce and sent him flying backward.

Lola retaliated with a headbutt attack and due to the Dunsparce natural ability and the thunder wave slowing the Natu down it was unable to retaliate. Again Lola ordered it and again the Natu didn't retaliate. This repeated once more until finally the bird pokemon was knocked unconscious and returned. After that Falkner switched into his Pidgeotto and Lola into a Mareep and I lost interest as at this point it was obvious who would win with the type advantage. I instead went back to formulating new strategies that took the Natu into consideration until the match ended with Lola winning and her walking back into the waiting area for challengers where she would meet Falkner and obtain her badge. I also made my way to the waiting area as I would be up soon and I didn't wanna be late.

* * *

When my name was finally called I felt like I was gonna be sick and on my way up to the challenger podium I stopped by the garbage can and relinquished the sandwich, much to the disgust of the other challengers waiting in the lobby.

"Helllllooooo everybody!" I was greeted by the loud voice of the announcer as I made my way up the stairs. "Today is the debut battle of mysterious trainer that goes by the name MG." He said and I smirked at my nickname. One of the most important parts of being a trainer is building a reputation for sponsors and one of the most common ways of doing that is with a strong and mysterious nickname. Nobody knows Red and Blues names, instead, they call them their nicknames and most people called Ethan Goldberg, Gold. Thus I stuck with the nickname MG and registered under it for this battle. "And here we have the lean, the mean, the scourge of the skies, everybody put your hands together for your Violet city gym leader, Faaallllllkkkknnnerrrr!" The announcer shouted out to a chorus of applause around the stadium. "The rules are simple, it'll be a one on one battle, each trainer is allowed two pokemon each and no substitutions." He explained. "Challenger are you ready." He said and I gave a nod pulling out my harmonica. "Gym leader are you ready?" He asked and Falkner nodded "Then begin!" He said and Falkner and I both released our pokemon revealing an Eevee and a Swablu. I smirked, it was no Doduo or Farfetch'd but it was better than a Murkrow or Pidgeotto.

I quietly took in the arena below me. It was pretty basic all things considered, a few tall rocks are strewn around it and some grass on the ground, it was only when I looked up did I see the complex nets and maze of wooden planks and walkways that lined the rafters of the arena. Multiple psychic pokemon lined it forming a protective barrier between pokemon, challenger and the massive amount of spectators, that I was sure not even the strongest of dark types could get past.

I began quickly forming a plan and blowing a loud E not followed by an A and a C commanded Vortumna to go left and straight and to behind a large rock where she stopped and she took the hint and hid behind it. Falkner let out a loud melodic note and the Swablu sent a gust of wind at the rock but it protected the Eevee from being hit and sent backward.

When the Swablu flew around to the right to get a better angle I blew the same notes and Vortumna dashed behind another rock to her left and the Swablu hovered in the air for a few seconds before trying to fly around from the left side where I blue the same command except replacing the A note with a B note so she would dash back to the boulder to her right. We played this game of Meowth and Rattata for several minutes the Swablu never connecting with Vortumna before she could get behind another rock and in which I made sure the Swablu never was too far behind Vortumna before she dashed to the next rock. Until finally my plan was able to be put into action and the Swablu had to return to the ground to rest. There I blew a loud F note followed by a G note and Vortumna tackled the Swablu to the ground and latched on to its stomach with her teeth puncturing the skin below and causing a dark red liquid to slowly ooze out of the wound, prompting Falkner to recall it before it gets any more injured and I recalled Vortumna, I was more than confident Nyx would be able to handle this.

"My Arceus! What an expert display of strategy by challenger MG." I could barely hear the announcer yell out over the roar of the crowd and I smiled to myself this would hopefully get my name out there. Looking over at Falkner I saw he was ready to release his pokemon so I quickly clicked Nyx's release mechanism while Falkner pressed his. "My Arceus, it's a mirror match!" The announcer yelled out as the white light faded revealing two Murkrow starings at each other from across the arena.

I quickly blew an E sharp and Nyx ascended into the sky, Falkners Murkrow following it. I then played a succession o AA when Nyx reached the maze at the top of the arena and Nyx Dodged left around one pillar, flew over a wooden walkway, flew under the next one flew left around the next pillar, over another walkway, left all the way around another pillar and then when I blew a loud F note she flew under Falkners Murkrow who had to turn around quickly narrowly missing colliding into the pillar in front of it. I then blew BB and she flew right around a pillar twice before I blew another E note and she flew over Falkners Murkrow, this time it didn't get quite so lucky and collided heavily the wooden pillar Nyx had just flown around and began free-falling in a daze.

Blowing a F note followed by a G note Nyx dived down at the falling Murkrow grasping onto its chest with her claws she pushed down accelerating the falling Murkrows speed and she leaned forward and pecked the bird hard on the head. About seven seconds before they would impact the ground I played an E note and she jumped off the Murkrow and hovered in the air. Unfortunately only around two seconds before it would have hit the ground Falkners Murkrow was able to right itself and stop most of the momentum against it minimizing the damage it took when it hit the ground. Blowing an F note followed by a G note, Nyx dove at the bird on the ground full speed and Falkners Murkrow flew up to meet it. They clashed into each other Falkners Murkrows beak penetrating through Nyx's Talon and Nyx's talons clawing into the other Murkrow's face. Both went flying sideways through the arena and hurtling to the ground again, though this time while Nyx recovered the other bird did not and it hit the ground hard-knocking it unconscious.

I didn't realize how silent the crowd had gotten in our battle until they exploded with the loudest cheers yet, so loud you couldn't even hear the announcer over them. I just stood there in shock, I couldn't believe I had actually won my first gym battle. It wasn't until I heard Falkner's voice repeating my name three separate times that I snapped out of my stupor and took in what actually happened. I quickly recalled my bleeding and weakened bird before I heard him call my name again.

"Ahem, we need to go to my office so I can give you my badge. Also , I'd like a word." His friendly and calm voice shines through the intercom at the challenger's booth and I nodded though I wasn't sure he could see it and made my way down from the podium. When I entered the challenger's waiting room I was greeted by a few congratulations but mostly just silence as they all nervously anticipated there own battles with the gym leader. Finally after what felt like an hour but was surely only minutes Falkner appeared and led me to his office.

* * *

"Congratulations on your victory, I've not met many trainers who's pokemon could outfly my own," Falkner said leading me into his office. I nervously nodded and looked around the office in awe, all things considered it was pretty small, a few posters hung on the walls from Falkner's own journey documenting his own team and even a few showing off his dad's old team when he was Violet city gym leader and a small desk surrounded by a few chairs in the middle of the room. "Haha, no need to be nervous." Falkner chuckled to himself as he took a seat on one end of his desk and I awkwardly took my seat on the other nearly tipping the sear over as I sat down a little to forcefully. "Do you speak?" He asked chuckling to himself some more and I nervously giggled myself.

"Er yes…?" I half asked half said and he laughed some more.

"Listen normally I'd give the badge publicly but I wanted to share a private word if that's alright?" He asked and I nodded nervously. "You're a special kid, you're like me, or Morty, or Lance if ya catch my drift?" He said and I looked at him confused causing him to my facepalm. "My Arceus we got one that doesn't even know." He said laughing to himself some more and I became even more confused which in turn made Falkner laugh even harder. "Where do you plan on going next?" He asked now somewhat serious.

"Azalea," I answered back to him as calmly as I could.

"Following in Golds steps eh?" He asked and I nodded. "Good kid that Gold, just like you didn't know. Pity what happened really." He said and I again looked on confused at him. "Never mind." He said shaking his head. "Listen I don't have much time and I am not allowed to say much, league rules and all. However, what I can say is go to Morty as soon as possible alright?" Falkner said hurriedly in a hushed tone "He can tell ya a lot more than I can."

"What do you mean?" I asked still so confused.

"You have something special about you, like most strong trainers or influential trainers in this world. I am not allowed to say how and even if I could I couldn't tell ya, that takes someone like Wil or Morty but what I can say is you're special and to find out how as soon as possible." He continued to explain hurriedly in a hushed tone. "Cut Azalea and Goldenrod and go to Ecruteak, figure this out, trust me." He said then cursed when he looked at his wristwatch. "Were out of time." He said standing up and his entire personality, he stuck out his hand. "Congratulations on winning challenger, may I see your pokedex?"" He said a little to formally leaving me even more confused but I nodded and handed it to him. He swiped a metallic card through it one of eight black sockets I had not noticed before lit up. "Your badge has been uploaded to your pokedex, you may leave now."

What he said left me questioning my entire plan of travel and I'd have to sit down and think about what he said. One thing was for certain though, I had won my first badge and I couldn't be happier.

* * *

Edited as of 09/9/2019

If you're wondering the code it was pretty simple for this first battle.

A=left

B=Right

C=Forward

D=Back

E= up for Nyx, Hide for Vortumna

F=Up for Nyx, Attack for Vortumna

G=Attack for Nyx.

 **MG:**

Vortumna: Eevee, Female, Level eleven

Nyx: Murkrow, Female Level thirteen


	5. Special Episode 1: The League

Lance sat in a chair within his private quarters in the indigo plateau and silently viewed his computer. On it was the previous day's gym matches from all over Kanjo. He silently watched skipping over most matches when he already could tell they would lose and even some that would win as he knew they would never make it much farther. However, he made very careful notes upon the trainers that would have serious potential and to follow each one's career respectively… So he could prepare…

 _Trainer: Quail. Breeding connection, Rich. Threats Charizard, Ariados, Mamoswine. Six badger. Son of AP. Threat level six out of ten_

 _Trainer: Allen. Adaptable. Threats, Altaria, Shelgon, Magneton, Swellos. Four Badger, Sis of C. May need to grant a visa to Sinnoh or Unova for Magnezone. Threat level eight out of ten._

 _Trainer: Lola. Strategic. Resourceful. No Notable threats. One Badger, Daughter of none. Threat level unknown, further research needed._

 _Trainer MG. Unpredictable, Resourceful, Strategic. Threats, Possible Vaporeon, Sylveon, Umbreon, Espeon, Murkrow. One Badger. Daughter of an unknown, possibly AR. Threat level unknown, further research needed._

 _Trainer. Tim. Strategic, Resourceful, Adaptable, Beloved, Well Travelled, Well trained. Threats, Electrivire, A-Raichu, A-Ninetails, Gardevoir, Slaking, Gyarados, Kabutops, Orangaru, Houndoom, Magnezone, Steelix, Gengar, Ditto. Twenty four badger, three-time league winner. Threat level nine out of ten (Note not ten out of ten due to no political desire.)_

After finishing marking down the last trainer's threat level, Lance stood up and yawned while he stretched. Then he made his way down from his living quarters within the league to the kitchen, where he saw Karen enjoying a coffee and her morning paper and Bruno and Koga meditating off in the corner, while Wil like usual was nowhere to be found.

"Morning, left you some coffee in the pot," Karen said as Lance walked through the door and he just nodded thanks at her as he poured a cup of coffee then sat down.

"So what's on the agenda today?" Lance asked after taking a sip of coffee.

"Well we have three challengers today, none of which seem like they'll make it past Wil. Bruno needs to meet with some representatives from the fighting dojo, make up some publicity for last week when he killed half that poor Tommy kids pokemon. Koga will be doing that little favor you asked of him and that'll take care of our coroner problem from a couple of weeks ago" She said listing out the tasks before them.

"It's amazing what people will do for money." Koga chimed in from the corner before going back to meditating.

"Good, that'll stop the questions and I do hate questions," Lance said smiling to himself. "And you Karen?" He asked.

"I will be getting information from my little brothers and sisters around Kanjo. It's that time of the month." She said and then giggles to herself at the immature joke making Lance scoff. "Oh boo hoo Mr serious. Anyways is there anything you wanted me to learn about." She asked and just like every other month Lance produced his list of names and handed it to her, she scanned it up and squealed when she saw the fourth name down. "Ooooh another possible little sister, can I keep her Lance? Can I?" She asked enthusiastically.

"Wait a moment." Lance said stopping her in her tracks. "I only suspect because she's good with a dark type, She could be anything!" He said and watched Karens face drop. "But yes if she is one you can keep her." He said and hid a smile as he watched Karen jump around in excitement.

"Now come on we have work to do," Lance said standing up and walking out of the room, leaving a warm undrunken coffee behind him.

* * *

Hey guys, sorry for the wait between updates and that my first update back is such a small one. I have been going through an incredibly hard time lately mentally and emotionally and it pretty much sapped any and all motive I had to write. However, I've finally snapped out of it and feel like I can properly continue this story. Don't worry I'm already halfway done my next chapter and should have it out by next week.

Anyways about this chapter, dropped lots of foreshadowing and preparations for the future. I'll be honest. Though it's short, this might be among the most important chapters in the entire story. Until next week, I'll see ya later!


	6. Wolf IN Sheeps Clothing

I wanted to try and avoid the journalists that typically flock to these things especially after a win. Even if most people didn't pay attention to first wins, I wanted to try and keep myself on the low down as long as possible. So I snuck through the back door of the gym and stealthily made my way to the pokecenter as quickly as I could. Along the way, I checked my dex and saw I had a message from both Cale and Robin.

" _Good job little one, I knew there was something special about you when I met you and to beat a gym leader on your first try, wow! Let me know if you need any new pokemon alright I can probably swing you a twenty percent discount off any bred pokemon or eggs, thirty-five if ya let me breed that little Murkrow of yours when she comes of age!_

\- Breeder Cale

 _Congrats.-Trainer Robin_

I giggled to myself quietly at the contrast of the two messages I received and then smiled even longer at the fact that I even received any messages and then hummed a little tune to myself as I made the journey back to the pokecenter. When I got there I handed my pokeballs over to the nurse who informed me it'd take about an hour for them to be up to health. So I headed up to my room and took an extra long shower as I would never take that for granted again especially since I wouldn't have access to another one for a long time. Then I got dressed into some simple cargo pants and a bulky coat and made my way downstairs to pick up my pokemon. When I arrived I found I still had about thirty minutes left, so I sat down with a piece of paper and began to make a list of pros and cons for going to Ecruteak first or not.

* * *

 _Pros:_

 _Faster to obtain three badges in a year._

 _Figure out the big secret._

 _Nyx is effective against Morty._

 _More time to train and prepare._

 _Chances for some interesting and synergetic new teammates earlier._

 _Get to see Brass and Burned tower earlier and have time for a history lesson._

 _Cons:_

 _Less natural growth_

 _Less time spent amongst nature._

 _Less overall pokemon encounters._

 _Nyx is good against Bugsy_

* * *

I checked and double-checked the list. The biggest outliers for me were the fact that I wouldn't have as much natural growth and that I wouldn't know this big secret that Falkner was talking about until much later. I decided ultimately on taking my original route. It was my plan and I was gonna stick to my plan no matter what. After all, I spent so much time planning it, it would be a waste not to use it and I had made it near foolproof, so I would stick with my plan... Plan.

After making the decision I checked the time and saw that Vortumna and Nyx should be ready so I went over to the counter and after some awkward small talk with the nurse I had them ready to go on my belt. I then checked and double-checked my supplies and after noticing I was running a little low on potions and rectifying the issue I headed up to my room and gathered the rest of my belongings and then checked out of the pokecenter.

After leaving the center I made my way out of the city to route thirty-two and decided to bypass the Ruins of Alph. As much I loved history, I had wasted enough time in and around Violet city and there would be other more interesting wonders to see. Not to mention I could always come back and check them out after I had completed the year-long quest for the researcher dex. Along the way, I battled a couple other no badge trainers and Nyx and Vortumna swept the floor with them easily, I was proud of my little monsters. After that, I headed off the usual path and into the forest where I would hopefully find some privacy and good wilds to fight. By the time it began to turn dark we had cleared just over twenty out of the thousand two hundred kilometer trek despite our late start and Nyx had only tried to escape twice. So overall it was a good day and as we set a fire, ate a meal and went to bed, I could barely contain my excitement for the next day.

* * *

I was rudely awoken the following morning by the rain pouring down upon my face. I grumbled and cursed at the fact that I had not yet bought a tent and deciding I wouldn't get any more sleep, I rolled up my sleeping bag and placed it within my backpack hoping to keep it as dry as possible. I then woke up Vortumna and then to nobody's surprise Nyx was gone and so I recalled her and released her to an angry squawk which made me smile and then the three of us began our trek forward.

For the first three hours of the morning nothing too interesting happened, Nyx found a couple of small Caterpies hiding from the rain in a tree trunk and promptly gobbled them up and Vortumna once tripped and fell in the mud and then adorably walked around in a huff that her pristine fur is all matted and dirty. So we made a detour to a local stream where we could wash her off and eat breakfast which was one thing Nyx would excitedly stick around for. It was here that the first really interesting thing happened. A lone Wooper waddled it's way past us with an almost human grin upon its face and not a care in the world. I thought it'd be decent experience in fighting a type we were not used to yet and so had Vortumna tackle it which sent it sprawling. However, it simply got up and continued it's waddle as if nothing happened at all and all three members of my party sat there stunned. I order Nyx to claw at it and she landed atop it clawing and pecking it while it simply continued walking, prompting Nyx to stop and fly back to me with a confused and unsure look. I decided then that I wanted the water and ground type, as while not a competitive threat, I knew they could tank hits with some of the best of them. So I tossed a pokeball at the Wooper and it immediately broke free and continued it's careless waddle downstream.

I grimaced and ran after it ordering Vortumna to tackle it once more and she sent it sprawling and then following my orders she pinned it down. Instead of struggling it simply lie there smiling up at Vortumna. Then it spat a glob of water at her, surprising the Eevee and knocking her off it. After that, the Wooper simply rolled over and despite being armless brought itself to its feet and then simply continued it's waddle down the stream like nothing ever happened. I smiled and threw another Pokeball at it and when it broke free I laughed and bid it farewell and good luck on its travel deciding that nothing would ever stop that Wooper from whatever it was gonna do. Instead, I ate my breakfast, sharing some with Nyx and Vortumna before packing up my gear and leaving. The memory of the little Wooper continuously marching forward one I knew would always be a pleasant one for the remainder of my life.

After that we traveled for another few hours, only stopping for a quick lunch and to battle a couple of wilds that crossed our path. At around fourish, we stumbled upon a rather large Ekans that tried to coil around and subdue Vortumna, but a quick boot from me and a pokeball tossed took care of the problem and thus I had caught myself an Ekans. I decided to name him Naga after the serpentine gods of human lore and when I released him he made an immediate lunge for Vortumna causing me to boot him once more, after that he got the message. I then leaned down and checked up on him, healing the injuries that I had inflicted upon him and as a reward, he proceeded to lunge at me sinking one of his fangs into me and prompting me to boot him once more and then ordering Nyx and Vortumna instead to simply kill him instead. I didn't have the time or the patience to put up with this bullshit especially when that bite really hurt. They followed the order immediately and soon the snake was dead and Nyx had a new meal.

I quickly checked the wound and saw that while it was bleeding, it was only surface level and ultimately shallow. I sighed and checked my pokedex to see how dangerous Ekans venom was and it showed that it typically took over a half hour to manifest and wouldn't kill the average healthy person. Which made no sense to me as, within a couple of minutes, I immediately fell over dizzy and vomited up my stomach's contents all over myself. When I checked the wound I could see a nasty green color forming around it. In between puking and cursing the faulty information within the pokedex I reached into my bag and pulled out the standard catch-all poison antidote and chugged half the bottle, pouring the rest onto my leg and screamed out in pain. I continued to vomit every five minutes for the next half hour before finally beginning to feel better. I reached into my bag and ripped off a sleeve from one of my shirts, hating my own stupidity in not buying bandages, I tied the piece of the shirt around my leg and then prepared my bed and a fire, deciding that I felt way too sick to continue traveling the rest of the night. So I made a quick dinner which I proceeded to quickly vomit back up and then deciding not to try my luck again I gave the rest to Nyx and went to sleep.

* * *

The next day I felt fine and travelled as normal and then for the next few days nothing beyond a few scrapes and injuries and one close call with another much smaller Ekans we continued traveling always on the lookout for a new and interesting pokemon to catch and train as after the Ekans incident I had decided not to catch anything I wasn't certain I didn't wanna train. There was one incident in which we found a small group of Pineco up in the trees and skirted cautiously around them as Pineco typically had a habit of dropping down and exploding when they are threatened.

Then after the ninth day of travel, we found our next team member. I could feel my skin begin to tingle and my hair begin to stand up on its ends. It meant there was a static charge in the air and that meant an Electric type. One of the most useful types there is mainly for its ability to destroy water and flying types which most expert trainers had at least one of. I sent Nyx out forward to scout for the source and she quickly guided me to a small meadow clearing within the forest, where I found a flock of Mareep.

Mareep is an interesting pokemon, native to Kalos and first brought over during the early colonial days by farmers traveling to Kanjo in hopes of striking it big and becoming rich. The electric sheep quickly found a home within the region and with tons of grass and open fields they exploded in population. Their wool makes over sixty percent of all clothing in the Kanjo region and they make up more than thirty percent of the regions meat supply, they were a true boon to the people of this land. Of course, with such a population explosion, some Mareep escaped their farms and were never found, and also exploded in population. Most were culled as they ate the food that would normally go to the native Stantler, Deerling and Girafarig populations, causing the native population to head into a steady decline. Eventually, over the years, native predators such as Poochyena evolved into pokemon like Electrike to combat the Mareeps natural defense and the ecosystem balanced itself out. However, Route thirty-two Johto to this day still holds the highest wild Mareep population in the world and I was lucky enough to stumble upon a flock of them.

So I began formulating a plan to snag one of them, obviously, Nyx was out due to obvious reasons, so it was up to me and Vortumna. I noticed there was twelve of them and we were directly behind the electric sheep and ordered Vortumna to sneak through the forest to the side of them and when I gave the signal to dash out at them as I would be waiting on the other side. I then snuck over to my side and quickly counted down from ten, eyeing the sheep warily. Then I yelled now and they were all alert. I could see my brown fox darting at them and I saw them scatter in a bunch of different directions, two coming in my direction, I quickly hurled a pokeball at the more woolen covered of the two as wild Mareep have no way of shearing themselves, so when they become too covered in wool to move they evolve and shed their fur into there relatively wool-free second form of Flaffy. I nailed the Mareep with the pokeball and it disappeared in a flash of red light, causing the Mareep beside it to wail and run in another direction and luckily for me the Mareep didn't reappear, meaning I had just caught the third member of my team.

I was ecstatic and couldn't wait to meet the third member of my team, but first I'd have to head somewhere less in the open, so I made my way back into the forest and set up an early camp with one thought in my head, what should I name it?

* * *

The very first thing I did was find a nice clearing away from where we caught the Mareep, not wanting to disturb the rest of its flock any more than I had to. I set up camp and then made sure Vortumna was by my side while Nyx was safely tucked away in her pokeball before letting out the electric sheep. When it was released it let out a startled bleep and sent a lightning bolt flying randomly and luckily way over my head and then stood there in shock and fear. I could make out some things about it now, first off it was distinctly male, which was interesting as I had not yet had a male pokemon on my team. Second was that its coat was very thick meaning it was most likely only a week or two away from evolving if left unsheared, while it would ultimately lose some starting power evolving naturally instead of through battling, I would much rather take the Flaaffy's immediate power and make up for it with harsh training later, speaking of which I had been forgoing my drills in return for more traveling time which I would not do from now on.

I slowly approached the Mareep, with some trail mix I had bought as a traveling snack for the road, being very careful not to startle the poor sheep. Cupping the food in my hand I placed it in front of the Mareep which hesitantly sniffed at it and then deeming it was okay ate it out of my hand. I smiled and stroked the creatures back and was greeted by a small static electric shock which made me jump back a little startled but then I went back and scratched the sheep's chin, causing it to bleed out happily and make me smile. I was glad I was not gonna have nearly as much trouble with it as I was still having with Nyx. I decided on calling him Pan, after some old legendary human god that looked like a goat and a goat, was close enough in my mind.

I began slowly teaching Pan his own name, feeding him whenever he responded to his own name and soon enough he got it, then I released Nyx and introduced him to the team. He was very hesitant around Vortumna for the first bit but had no problem with my annoying little bird, however, he got over it after he realized Vortumna wasn't gonna harm him and soon enough was happily running around chasing him like two Growlithe pups. Finally, I ended it by calling him and was happy he responded immediately and then began teaching him basic commands and of course He didn't respond at all causing Nyx to let out a shrill squawk that I could only interpret as laughing at me. After another hours work, I got him responding to the basic commands of dodging and shocking things, after another I got him to tackle things and go where I wanted him to. After another two I got him responding to all the commands on my harmonica, surprised how easy he took to learning that as Vortumna had a lot more trouble.

After that, it was time for bed, so I set up a fire and crawled into my sleeping bag and exhausted at the days work passed out almost immediately.

The next day I woke up to the sun glaring in my face and cursed myself for sleeping in so late, I looked around and of course, Nyx was missing so I did the usual recall and release and she didn't even get angry when she appeared before me this time. Just let another squawk of what I now recognized as laughter and perched herself upon the trees above us. I then woke up Vortumna with all the movement and she was up and playful in no time prompting me to reach down and scratch behind her ears, earning me a happy mewl. Then I went over and gently woke up Pan who freaked out and let loose a lightning bolt near me, terrifying me but he soon enough apologized by rubbing up against me. That day proceeded as most of the others had, simply walking through the forest, fighting any wild creatures that dare challenge my fearsome team of monsters, and sheep… We had an early camp again to start running drills once more, and I began incorporating Nyx and Vortumna in Pan's training. Teaching him to be more accurate with his lightning bolts, and to hit moving targets more easily. I also had the three of them run or in Nyx's case fly obstacle courses as I knew it would make them much more agile and increase their stamina. In the case of Pan, I knew that if he kept running around and got faster with the weight of his fleece around him when he did eventually evolve into something without that weight he'd be a lot faster and physically stronger than most Flaffy, even if his electric attacks would be weaker.

The next few days proceeded exactly the same, wake up, travel, drills, sleep, only stopping for meals or to battle some wilds. On the sixteenth day of travel, I realized I was completely and utterly lost and began making my way to where I thought the main road was. On the twenty-second day, I hit the main road and realized I was about halfway to Union cave putting me about three days behind schedule. I took the main road for the next few days and battled quite a few trainers, easily pocketing most of their sweet earnings, though a four badger waiting to pick on easy trainers, wiped the floor with me with only one of his pokemon, a Shellgon which put me back a few hours as I waited for my pokemon to heal.

On the twenty-sixth day, Pan evolved. I woke up in the middle of the night to a very bright flash of white light, very grumpy I may add. I watched as the bright light surrounded the Mareep and it retreated into it's pokeball. When a pokemon evolved it often hid since it was vulnerable during this time and the time after when it is first learning to use its power. In the case of trained pokemon this often meant hiding inside a pokeball. When a pokemon evolved into a second stage it would usually be out of commission from any amount of time; ranging from four hours in a lot of bug types case, to twelve hours once ya got into slower-growing creatures like dragons. While third stage evolutions could take anywhere from a couple of days to months to evolve. After that bit of excitement, we continued forward on the road, battling any and all trainers we could find until on day thirty we came into the small town of Marigold.

* * *

Marigold, originally just a small outpost containing a pokemon center for traveling trainers before there expedition into Union Cave. It was getting enough traffic due to an abundance of travelers traveling from Violet city to Azalea or from the large sea it was next too, that eventually a pokemart was opened up there and a port to connecting it to the rest of the seafaring cities within Johto. After that, it was only a matter of time before people constructed houses around it and it became a town for sailors to live in. When a few large veins of iron and copper were found, well then it became a mining town for those who hoped to strike it big. After that the rest was history and now it found itself a small bustling community filled to the brim with sailors and miners alike and had a steady income from the traveling trainers constantly coming and going all the time on their journeys. I was just gonna be the next of an endless amount of trainers to come through here for a hot meal, a nice bed and to stock up on supplies.

However, when I arrived I heard there was an amateur tourney being held for the one to two badge bracket. Seeing my chance at proving my worth and perhaps also earning some extra spending money for myself I switched directions from the pokecenter to where I was being told it was held. After around ten minutes I found myself at a large stadium at the edge of town and was surprised I missed it when I came in. I walked in and over to the reception where women in a tight-fitting and slightly overly suggesting dress sat.

"Um, Hello. I was uh wondering if I could sign up for the tournament?" I asked nervous and unsure of what exactly to do.

"Mhmm, and may I see your trainer card or pokedex please?" She asked formal and polite which eased some of my own built-up tension.

"Oh um yes, right here!" I managed to stammer out as I pulled my pokedex out of my bag and handed it over to her.

"Hmm alright, Trainer MG, one badge, registered team members, one Murkrow, one Eevee and One Flaffy." She said and I nodded along with everything she said. "Alright, the tournament is held every Sunday, so you are registered for three days from now. It'll be your standard competitive format, you can use up to six pokemon, no items, unlimited switches and till either pokemon faints or is killed. Your first match will be at nine o'clock in the morning, do not be late or you will be disqualified." She spouted out blandly and I nodded along taking in all the information I could. "Have yourself a wonderful day and see you on Sunday." She said with false cheer and I nodded and left the stadium.

Alright, that left me two and a half days to train if you counted whatever daylight was left in the current day. If that was the case if I ran drills for fourteen hours from eight am to ten pm and slept as soon as we finished, only stopping for meal breaks, then I was certain I could get to the level where I could take on any two badgers that entered the tournament. So I made my way to the pokecenter to heal up my team and then headed out to the wilderness to train.

* * *

Once I found myself a nice clearing, I released my team and set up the most basic drills. I set up a long line of rocks like cones in steadily closer proximity to each other and had Pan and Vortumna continuously weave in and out of them if they hit one they'd have to restart from the beginning. Meanwhile, I had Nyx, fly around the clearing weaving in and out of trees and timed her. If she completed it faster than the last go, she would get rewarded with a treat, if she got a close time while weaving through more trees than the last time, she would be rewarded with a treat. This is how the first four hours, of each day, would go. Then we would stop for lunch, I'd recall them and take them to the pokecenter where they would heal their exhaustion and then we'd head back out to the clearing.

The next two hours were worked on powering up and learning new attacks. Nyx began learning how to manifest her element and exploding it outwards in a large pulse of energy. All it could do at this point was push me back about a meter and tickle, though it seemed to do a little damage to Pan and Vortumna, it was a start! Though she found it very amusing anytime I wasn't paying attention to her to sneak up and startle me with it. Nyx also helped Vortumna to manifest the element of darkness whenever she bit into something and that made much more steady progress than Nyx's dark pulse. Pan just worked on strengthening his electric attacks, and it was here I began to curse that I had not waited to shear and train him before he evolved, as he still could not produce anything more than a thundershock.

The next four hours were used to build up endurance, I had my pokemon spar. For the most part, Pan won even despite being weak for him species, he was still an evolved pokemon and that would still make him more powerful than my other two, especially since Nyx was weak to electricity. I eventually began having both Nyx and Vortumna take on Pan at once and that was more fair, skewing closet to a forty, sixty percent win ratio for Pan, though it did its job and they all slowly began getting tougher, Nyx being able to take three shocks instead of two and Pan being able to take a lot more tackles, bites, and pecks.

The last two hours were used to learn more complex commands with the harmonica. Though it took a while, I could eventually get them to dodge in more than just the basic four directions and even use different attacks based on what key or note I played.

I was proud of my little team and after two and a half days of this training when I woke up the morning of the tournament, I was confident that I could take it by storm.

I walked into the stadium at eight-thirty, wanting to be early and not risk disqualification. I checked in with the nurse who informed me where the waiting rooms were and I made my way there. I checked the schedule and saw that it was only an eight-person tournament. Highest seeded trainers fought the lowest-seeded trainers, that I would be fighting a two badger by the name of Jose Benedicto, who had a near-perfect record on his journey so far, only losing a single pokemon to a gym leader. He along with the two badgers currently battling were the favorites to win, and I could see that there were four to one odds on him beating me. I guess I would just have to make some people disappointed then.

* * *

I waited patiently until the battle before me was finished and I was called up for my turn. I took a couple calming deep breaths and then made my way to my podium.

"GOOOOOOODDDD EVENING EVERRRYYYBODY!" I heard a loud voice announce to the entire stadium and I was surprised that it sounded very similar to the Violet gym's announcer. "Welcome to our weekly amateur and junior tournament." He said and then went on to explain the rules. "Today we have a special treat, Marigolds own Jose Benedicto." He announced to the crowd and I cursed, I didn't know he was a local. "And on this side we have the master of Murkrow, Trainer MG." He announced and I was surprised at the loud cheer I got in response, I guess people liked my battle against Falkner more than I thought they did. "MG are you ready?" the announcer asked and I nodded. "Jose are you ready?" He asked and Jose gave him a confident thumbs up. "Then begin!"

I pressed the release button, on Nyx's pokeball sending her flying out. She was my best scout and I needed to test him. Across from my side exploded out a bipedal fox holding two spoons and I couldn't help but grin, a psychic type was pretty much blocked by Nyx's natural element. I blew a high A note and Nyx took off to the sky, though to my disdain Jose recalled his Kadabra and replaced it with beige-ish cone-shaped pokemon. An ice type named Snorunt.

I quickly recalled Nyx and replaced her with Vortumna and then blew an F key, and Vortumna went charging towards his Snorunt.

"Ako." He said and the Snorunt blew a shard of ice straight at Vortumna, causing me to blow an E sharp and Vortumna to respond in turn to leap over the shard and then continue and charge into the cone-like creature sending it sprawling backward. I blew an F-minor and Vortumna performed a quick attack, catching it off guard and sending it flying once more as it tried to get up. That did the trick and the Snorunts already low defense crumbled causing it to collapse and me to jump up in joy. I was off to a good start.

"Is that all you got? A tackling Eevee." I heard Jose called out trying to throw me off guard.

"A tackling Eevee that you couldn't even hit," I responded without a beat, all worried or anxiety was forgotten and just caught up in the moment of it all.

"Let's see it tackle this." He said and a noxious ball of gas and spirit to appear before him. A Gastly, a ghost type pokemon which normally would be good against a normal type like Vortumna, however, due to her recent training with Nyx and the fact that the Gastly was probably inexperienced that it didn't have any attacks that could harm Vortumna, I was sure I was fine.

"I don't need to tackle it," I said and then blew an F note, causing Vortumna to charge towards the Gastly.

"Ako." I heard him repeat and saw the Gastly form a large ball of shadow which he launched and Vortumna and I was happy to see had no effect. I guessed Ako meant some form of ranged attack then.

"What's the matter?" I asked at his obvious frustration. "Doesn't an expert trainer like you know that spiritual energy can't affect normal types?" I talked back causing him to grow even angrier. I then blew an E sharp followed by an F sharp and Vortumna leapt into the air sinking her dark infused teeth into the Gastly and tearing a large chunk out of it, leaving gas and noxious fumes to pour out of the wound at a dangerous rate and it to deflate and collapse to the ground, causing me to grin wildly. I checked the screen and saw he only had two remaining pokemon left.

He recalled his Gastly and replaced it with a small blue pokemon with four spindly legs that seemed to cause it to skate around the ground a bug-water type named Surskit. I quickly recalled Vortumna and replaced her with Nyx, know use revealing Pan if I didn't have to. To my great disappointment, he quickly recalled the Surskit and then pressed the surrender button on his console. Though my disappointment was quickly replaced by joy as I realized I had won and I quickly jumped up and down in glee as I recalled Nyx.

After that my pokemon were taken away for healing and I was left looking up my other opponent's battles. The other three battles went off according to the odds. The other highly seeded trainer destroyed his opponent with just a Bayleef and didn't switch at all and then beat his other opponent with only a Cacnea making his way into the finals. My next opponent another one badger barely scraped by beating his opponent with one pokemon left on the verge of fainting. And in the next battle, I was greeted to thunderous applause but quickly made short work of him with just Vortumna, leaving just me and the favorite to win.

* * *

While I healed my pokemon I was surprised to see that there were only two to one odds on my next battle for my opponent. I was even more surprised when said opponent, approached me before the battle.

"Hello, MG is it?" He said extending his hand.

"Um yeah, that's what they call me," I muttered out nervously shaking his hand causing him to chuckle lightly.

"Pleasure to meet ya, I'm Zach." He said as we parted hands. "Just wanted to give ya props, I was a big fan of your battle against Falkner." He said causing my face to go Scarlette.

"You saw that?" I asked a giggle emerging from my mouth from nerves.

"Yeah it was brilliant, and I'm glad ya took down Jose a peg, guys a bit of a prick," Zach said admiringly.

"Well uh, thanks," I said blushing even more furiously.

"Anyways I just wanted to wish ya best of luck and no hard feelings." He said and I nodded back at him. "Cool see ya in the stadium." He said and I just nodded back, dumb struck as he left.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid." I admonished myself as he left. "Stupid little stupid girl;" I muttering as I made my way to the healing stand and picked up my pokemon and then made my way to the podium.

After the announcer made his usual introductions, both I and Zach released our pokemon, I released Vortumna and he released his Bayleef. I quickly blew an F note and Vorutmna began to charge. To my surprise, Zach simply told his Bayleef to tackle, no code or nothing. I blew an A note followed by an F note and then Vortumna dodged to the side and tackled the Bayleef barely even moving it.

"Throw it." I heard Zach say and before I could make a move his Bayleef picked up Vortumna with its vines and threw her. As soon as she got up I recalled her and replaced her with Nyx. It was time to show them why they called me MG.

I blew a high A note and Nyx took off towards the skies, Zachs Bayleef tried throwing a few leaves at her but with her recent training she dodged them with ease, I blew a low A note and she dropped down in altitude and then I followed it up with a G note and she collided right into the Bayleef with her wing severing one of its vines and eliciting a cry of pain. I called her back up and then repeated the process a couple of times before the Bayleef went down for good and he recalled it.

"Nice KO." He said releasing his Cacnea, and I quickly recalled Nyx replacing her with Vortumna. I saw he only had two pokemon left and wondered what his other one was as I was sure he wondered what mine was. "Impale it." I heard him yell and I froze in shock at the brutality of the command before blowing a b note all too late and watched as Vortumna's Leg was impaled into the ground by a long needle. I heard her scream out in pain as she ripped it free and limped and I horrified, recalled her and replaced her with Nyx, angry at myself for my late reaction time.

"Impale it." I heard him again say and I reacted quicker this time ready for it, blowing a high A note causing Nyx to take to the sky. I quickly blew a series of B and C notes causing Nyx to roll left and right out of the way as more needles were shot at her, before blowing a D followed by a G minor and then an a. Nyx swooped down and picked up the Cactus pokemon cawing in pain but following orders and carrying it high into the air. "Needle arm." I heard Zach yell and saw the Cacnea swing one of his arms in a wide arc into Nyx's the side of Nyx's face ripping it wide open. She let out a squawk of pain but still held on. I quickly blew a G minor and she released the Cacnea from thirty feet up in the air and the entire stadium went silent as we all watched it fall downwards and be split into two as it collided with a rock, it died instantly.

"Zach I'm sorry-" I began but was cut off abruptly.

"No hard feelings right?" He said but I could hear the anger and sadness in his voice and I was terrified. He released a third pokemon, a large dinosaur that was half tree and seemed to have bananas hanging from its chin. A Tropius, and something that could take on Nyx in the air. I quickly recalled my bleeding bird and let out Pan, this was it, if Pan couldn't beat it I knew he'd wipe the floor with my remaining weakened team members.

The Tropius came at me faster than I thought it would and sent Pan sprawling, I quickly breathed out a sigh of relief though as I saw that what remained of his fleece, held a static charged that paralyzed and immobilized the giant dinosaur. I blew an F sharp and held it and Pan unleashed every single last bit of electricity that he held within him into the dinosaur and I watched as it collapsed to ground unconscious. I couldn't believe it, I had won and as I jumped for joy, fist pumped in the air the stadium exploded in noise and cheers. I had won and everybody liked a good underdog story.

"Good match." I heard a broken voice mutter before me and suddenly the joy left me just like that and I remembered in that moment, I was a killer…

* * *

Edited as of 09/9/2019

 **MG:**

Vortumna: Level 13

Nyx: Level 15

Pann: Level 19


	7. No Rest For The Wicked

_I was a killer…_

That's all I could think about after that match. Sure it was Nyx that killed that Cacnea but I gave the order, I killed it, I was a killer...

Even as I made my way to the center of the arena, and claimed the fifteen hundred dollars and moonstone prize, I couldn't really celebrate, as all I could do was keep on replaying the horrific pop and squelch sound the Cacnea made as it was split in half. In a trance I just found myself working through the motions as the stadium cheered and roared, the sadness and anger in Zach's voice mixed into that horrific scene and I could feel my own heart begin to race and pound faster and faster. I couldn't take this, my chest felt like it was gonna explode and my body began to shake. I needed to get out of there, I needed to get out now, everyone one was looking at me, looking at a killer and they knew it too. So I ran.

I ran as fast as I possibly could before the announcer finished his final words or a single spectator left the stadium, I did. I ran out the stadium doors and just kept running, I didn't stop at a pokecenter, I didn't stop at the pokemart to resupply, I didn't plan out anything at all, I just knew I had to keep running and so I did. I ran and I ran and I ran and I just kept running. When I hit forest I kept on running, and it wasn't until I nearly collapsed that I finally stopped. Only then alone in the forest did my heart stop pounding and my body stops shaking and yet the scene kept replaying anyways and I collapsed to the ground and began to sob. I don't know how long I was out there for, nor how long it took them to come and find me but when they did I was still crying, even as I was brought back to town and to the pokecenter. Even as the nurses checked me over to make sure nothing was wrong physically and as they took my pokemon away for healing I kept sobbing and replaying that scene, over and over again and I just kept thinking that one thought… I was a killer. Eventually, after my pokemon were healed they took me up to my room and I collapsed in bed and still, I cried.

I don't remember when I fell asleep, I just remember it took a long time and that I was plagued by nightmares of that exact scene the entire night.

* * *

 _I was a killer…_

That was my only thought as I woke up and as I got ready for the day the Cacneas death kept replaying through my mind over and over again. Today though I didn't cry or shake, today I just felt an empty pit inside myself, like no emotions could ever touch me again. I hadn't felt this way since I was seven years old and my mother beat me for asking if I could stay and watch television with her and my dad. Since before I had found my passion for pokemon battling and I hated feeling this way, feeling so… Empty.

Yet despite all that I continued my motions, I had a deadline to hit and I was already behind. So I made my way out of the center and to the Pokemart. I stocked up on potions, antidotes, a few ropes and some climbing equipment, pokeballs and of course lots and lots of food. I decided to save the rest of my winnings from my tourney so I could hopefully afford some nice TMs later, mainly I just wanted to get out of Marigold. Then I made my way out the main route opting not to go through the wild this time.

I made great time, reaching Union cave only an hour after leaving Marigold town and encountered no trainers along the way. However, Union cave was what I was truly scared about. See, statistics show the cave ventures are responsible for sixty-three percent of all trainer deaths in the wild. The rough and dark terrain meaning nearly anyone can fall and knock themselves out easily, with little other people climbing or traversing the same way as each other, a person will rarely get the medical attention they need. Combine the resultant concussion, with the dark and rough ground and that person, will probably never find there way out and starve to death. The other reason they're so dangerous is that caves often are home to the most amount of major or higher threats. Often containing Ursaring dens, Geodude and it's exploding family, the massive and town destroying Onix family, Rhyhorn and Rhydon and sometimes even Rhyperior and of course, caves are the only place in which dragons make themselves home. It often takes an Elite or ex-champion to patrol the caves often and some places like Mt. Silver or Mt. Mortar are so completely infested by high-level threats that even the league has given up on patrolling them and instead simply works to keep them from spilling out into other cities and towns. Luckily for me, Union Cave in one of the safest and most traveled caves in the entire region and anything even remotely dangerous or cool is often caught immediately when found. As I made my way in, I wasn't gonna let my guard down, I had read to many horror stories and statistics to let myself do that, I wasn't gonna die in a fucking cave. Besides I could handle this… I was a killer.

* * *

My first response to entering the cave was to simply gasp in awe! I couldn't believe how big the opening cavern was. It was tall enough to fit a fully grown Steelix and was wide enough to fit at least three fully grown Wailord. My second thought when I entered the cave was immediate dread as caves this big weren't made naturally and I began to freak out being stuck in the dark with whatever made this possibly digging around directly below me. Then I took a few calming breaths and flipped on my flashlight, I hated the dark.

I made my way forward through the cave, I kept Pan in his pokeball as he'd be very useless against the multitude of rock and ground types within this cave and I preferred to keep him safe, besides Nyx seemed to have near-perfect vision in here anyways and she was using it in spades to harass the local Rattata and Paras that live in these caves. However, when she quickly snatched one up I bent over and empties the contents of my breakfast all over the cave, it reminded me too much of the fucking Cacnea.

Not trusting myself not to vomit again, I forewent refilling my stomach and instead just continued forward where the map told me too and soon enough my hesitation swiftly changed to boredom and boredom to depression as I began continuously replaying that scene through my head again and wondering what I could have done differently. I could have commanded Nyx to not drop him on a rock but we hadn't trained that as a possibility and she didn't know where to drop someone. I could have recalled her when that needle ripped through her face but the Cacnea would have still dropped. I didn't know what I could've done but I wished I had done whatever it was.

Cursing I realized in my own pity I hadn't even looked over Nyx yet, I couldn't let myself get sloppy like that. So after stopping and a quick whistle she reluctantly came flying over and situated herself on my shoulder and I began examining her face. A long jagged scar ran down along the ride side of her face, right below the right side of her eye and down below her beak. An inch higher and she would have lost that eye, for the first time I was not sad but angry and glad we killed the Cacnea. That anger quickly turned into disgust at myself for thinking such a thing and I vomited again causing Nyx to fly off in a huff. Then noticing Vortumna still limping I got down on one knee and whistled for Vortumna to come and she slowly made her way to me an obvious limp in her right foreleg. I saw her try to hide it like a scorned child would when she came over to me, causing me to smile at my adorable little starter. I started by picking up her leg and she yelped and whined which caused a sad pang in my heart. I then began pressing down lightly all around the leg seeing where pained her and where did not and the answer was pretty much her entire foreleg. I sighed and grabbed out a potion and sprayed it on her leg, she yelped and jumped away but I had done what I needed to, and I knew I would probably have to do that regularly over the next few days if I wanted her to heal properly.

I recalled Vortumna because of the injury and let out Pan. I still didn't like his matchups within the cavern but I wanted to make sure I always had two pokemon on me in here. We continued through the cave for a while more before stopping for lunch. I ate very light, being prepared for my meal to leave me at any moment. Nyx had no problem hopping around eating anything she could find and Pan was content wandering around nibbling on the little amounts of shrubbery and fungi that were found within the cave. I also let Vortumna out so I can spray some more potion on her wound and so she can eat and get some fresh air. When she came out however she acted very standoffish and careless to me. It was as if she was pouting and I couldn't help but giggle at my starters adorableness once more, which made her even poutier and made me laugh even harder. Eventually, I was able to calm down and with a few soft words and the promise of food I was able to get Vortumna to forgive me. There surrounded by my mismatched team of a mischievous bird, an adorable fox, and a carefree sheep, I think that was the first time I ever began to feel ha- **BOOM!**

Out from the ground emerged a twenty-foot rock snake mouth opening and closing in a sickening crunch around Pans startled and unprepared body. I stood there in complete and utter shock and then I ran!

 _I wasn't the only killer..._

* * *

I didn't look back as I ran. I didn't wanna see what was left of Pan's body and I didn't wanna trip or slow down. I could feel the vibrations in the ground as the giant rock snake burrowed and began moving through the ground at high speeds. It was then that I realized that Nyx and Vortumna were both still out of their pokeballs, especially poor Vortumna with her small limp and I quickly recalled the both of them, still not looking back or slowing down.

I felt the ground beneath me begin to shift and open up and I quickly dove and rolled to the side narrowly avoiding the great snake as it emerged from the ground once more showering me with debris, one of which a small pebble pinging off my head and causing my vision to dim and myself to see stars. Then I tossed a pokeball at the Onix and not looking back to see if it worked or not I got back on my feet and began sprinting once more, my head pounding and my breath ragged and yet I kept on running until I couldn't feel any more vibrations in the ground and I believed I had lost it.

I stopped then to regain my breath, in, out, in, out and slowly I began to calm down. Then I felt the tremors again and I began sprinting again, this time making sure to zig-zag so it wouldn't be able to just pop up and grab me. This slowed me down though, and I could feel the vibrations getting closer and closer, so I readied another pokeball and got ready for another dash. When it came flying out of the ground again, mouth open and ready to snatch me I released the ball and again began sprinting as hard as I possibly could, I was not gonna die like this, not like Pan, not be just another statistic. I wasn't gonna fucking die in a cave.

This time I didn't stop for a breath I just kept running and started screaming for anyone to help me. There had to be someone else in this fucking cave, someone that could help me and so I ran and screamed and ran and screamed, till my lungs and vocal chords felt like they were gonna burn up inside of me. Then I collapsed vomiting all over the cold hard, cave floor. It was there I could feel the vibrations again, far away but slowly coming closer and closer. In a last-ditch effort, I tossed my pokeballs away. I couldn't believe it, I was gonna fucking die in a cave but my pokemon didn't have to.

As the vibrations closed in and the Onix emerged from the ground and towered over my collapsed form, I let out one last scream for help, one last prayer, and I was answered.

"Throw it." I heard a deep masculine voice say right before I blacked out.

* * *

When I came to my entire body felt sore, like I was a Hitmonchans punching bag. As I groggily sat myself up I tried to place exactly where I was. I was next to a roaring campfire which made no sense as I was also deep inside a cave and there was no wood inside a cave, and why was I in a cave? Then everything came back to me, The Onix, Pans horrific death, my collapsing and then that voice that saved me. I quickly looked around and saw a man sitting there stoking the fire, an Espeon and Pikachu sitting by his side. He looked at me with some piercing silver eyes and I couldn't help but think he looked familiar but from where I was not sure.

"Shhh, sit down, you've had a rough enough time already." He said gently gesturing me to sit back down and I obliged as my body was killing me.

"My pokemon?" I asked worriedly.

"They're fine, I retrieved there pokeballs, there right next to you." He said and I looked down and was instantly relieved, I quickly let them out and Vortumna dashed forward and nearly tackled me, and I quickly hugged her tight against me. Even Nyx didn't try and run away like she normally did, instead, of looking at me with some sort mix of pity and interest that she had never looked at me before. It was there I now realize is when she truly became mine.

"Who are you?" I asked hoarsely, my vocal chords burning red hot and raw from my screams before.

"Eh just some guy who heard your pleas for help, and couldn't ignore them." He said flashing me a little grin, that helped relax me some more. "Sorry about your Flaffy. By the way." He said and that hurt flashed back into my mind but I quickly shoved it away, for now, I just couldn't deal with it at the moment though how he knew about what happened to Pann I do not know.

"Thanks." I muttered and things went quiet for a moment. "So how'd you throw a fully grown Onix?" I asked peaked in interest, learning always took my mind off things.

"Oh, that was little Orpheus's doing here." He said patting the Espeon. "And that was just a juvenile." He said smiling widely.

"Wait they get bigger?" I asked eyes wide, "that thing must have been at least twenty feet"

"Oh yeah, they never stop truly growing and get even bigger as a Steelix. Hell, a buddy of mine once had a fifty footer." He said a nostalgic twinkle in his eyes and I don't know why but I could tell he wasn't lying.

"Fifty feet!" I yelled out in surprise and he nodded.

"Yeah, that thing wasn't allowed anywhere near a city, but it was the most affectionate rock type I've ever seen, Like a growlithe pup I swear." He said laughing as he said it and I just stared in awe.

"But if they get that big, why aren't they running amok everywhere?" I asked amazed that our species was still alive.

"Oh because there hunted obviously?" He said like it was a matter of fact.

"How can something hunt a fifty-foot giant rock snake," I asked again wonderously.

"Grass types duh. They enjoy the nutrients the inner minerals of Onix provide." He said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Huh, and here I thought the great MG was a smart kid." He taunted and I looked on in shock for a second.

"You know of me?"

"Of course. Ya stirred up quite a bit of press there with your Murkrow shenanigans, not to mention the fact that you won your first gym battle with zero losses or faints and won a two badge tournament with only one badge. Beating out two badgers." He explained as I stared in awe. "You're famous kid, you're gonna have to deal with that, especially with you being what you are." He said smiling mischievously.

"What I am?" I asked curiously.

"Ya mean ya don't know?: He asked wondrously, but it just radiated off of ya.

"Know what?" I asked confused and starting to be a little irritated but he just laughed a hearty laugh.

"My god, fates a fickle bitch sometimes ain't it." He said laughing some more. "Pardon my Kalosian kid, but I couldn't a predicted somethin like this." He said and I began to become even more annoyed with this man.

"Know what?" I asked again this time the irritation evident in my voice.

"Woah, Woah, take it easy there." He said putting his hands in front of his face in mock surrender. "Listen, kid, you're special alright?" He said and I began to become irritated once more before the memory of being in Falkner's office popped into my head and I just became confused again.

"Falkner said something about me being special too." I fished back at him.

"Did he now?" The man asked curiosity evident in his voice.

"Ya, he couldn't tell how but he said I was special. Said I'd need to go see Morty. Said to make it a priority" I said repeating what Falkner had told me.

"Typical Hermes, always in a rush" He muttered and I was again confused. "Well, I'm not one to spoil surprises, so I won't tell ya either." He said grinning widely and I was beginning to question whether I actually liked this man or not. "I will, however, give you this." He said pulling out a ragged and dusty old book and handed it to me.

"Myths And Legends. A History Of Our Creation?" I asked reading the title. "Isn't this all just a bunch of rubbish?" I asked, my irritation flaring up once more.

"You'd be surprised what truth you can find in what other people say is rubbish." He said smiling and putting on a red and white cap and standing up. "Next time I see you, I expect you to have finished that alright?" He said grinning widely at me.

"Wait!" I yelled. "How do you know we'll meet up again," I asked uncertain.

"Because it's what fate has in store. Oh and just a heads up, ya can tell an Onixs territory as the walls will be heavily scratched and the rocks will be smooth." He said and then in a flash, he was gone leaving me to ponder exactly what he meant by all that and just who this man was.

Then while I rested I opened the first page and began to read.

* * *

 _In the beginning, there was an egg,_

 _From that egg emerged two beings_

 _The great multi sided goat we call Arceus_

 _That gave birth to every pokemon in this land._

 _And the great human girl named Hera_

 _Who would give birth to all the humans in this land._

 _Together, they clapped and there was a great bang._

 _And then_

 _There was light._

* * *

 **MG:**

Vortumna: Lvl 13

Nyx: Lvl 16


	8. Best friend

_From that light the universe was formed._

 _And the Planets created_

 _So we could have a home._

 _And there the great Hera and Arceus_

 _Created the first beings to walk these lands._

 _And Life was born._

 _We were born._

 _We did not age_

 _Nor did we fear death_

 _It was a perfect world_

 _A peaceful world_

 _A stagnant world_

 _And so_

 _Arceus and Hera_

 _Created eight more beings to govern this world_

 _Dialga, Palkia and Chronos to govern time_

 _And so we could age_

 _Yveltal, Giratina and Hades, to govern death._

 _And so we could die_

 _Xerneas, Mew and Hestia to govern life_

 _And so we could live_

* * *

I read a few more pages of the book before putting it down. I was too exhausted to even do that after the long day I just had. So I quickly made sure the fire wouldn't die before I got my sleeping bag and passed out. When I came to the next morning I still felt like I'd been stampeded by a horde of Rhyhorn. But I got up anyways, I always got back up.

Then making sure both Nyx and Vortumna were up, and that I sprayed some potion on Vortumna's injured leg. I began walking. I had no clue where I was anymore as I paid no attention during that Onyx chase. But I kept on walking anyways and hoped this would bring me somewhere. Hell after how exhausted I was I wouldn't have even minded if I ended back up at Marigold at this point, at least from there I could figure out where I was going. However, a rumble from my stomach reminded me that I hadn't eaten since Marigold and even then had spewed the contents out of my stomach. So I grabbed two sandwiches out of my bag, one for Nyx and one for me and I began eating as I walked. It was actually kind of pleasant. That was until we encountered some Zubat.

Zubat is among the most annoying pokemon to ever exist. Blind Zubat hunt using Echolocation. However, for some odd reason, this has made Zubat hyper-aggressive, choosing to hunt literally anything they register back, whether it be bigger or stronger for them. Also being one of the weakest pokemon to exist, this leads to Zubats having one of the highest mortality rates of any species. However, they also breed like Buneary. Popping out six or seven Zubat a stock is not an uncommon occurrence and so what they lack in quality they make up in quantity and have overrun nearly every cave system in the world. The worst part though was when I reached down for Pans pokeball and then remembered he wasn't in it anymore. I nearly broke down once more, yet just like before I was out of tears, I was empty. So I did what any reasonable person did when confronted with a flock of Zubat, I ran.

After running away from flock after flock of Zubat and getting really annoyed with it all. I walked down a long tunnel that connected to a wide-open cavern and I noticed heavily scratched walls. So I promptly turned around and walked in the other direction. I was not dealing with that again and backtracking a bit I sat down for a quick rest on my aching body and to spray some potion on Vortumnas leg once more. Then after Nyx begged me like I was starving her, I gave them both of them some food and I ate a small granola bar while scratching the top of Vortumnas thoughts and smiled to myself at my silly little team and then got upset again when I remember what happened to Pan. So to distract myself I packed up and then continued traveling some more.

Along the way, I encountered some more Zubat, which I ran from some more. I also encountered a couple of Geodude and stood clear knowing they were relatively harmless if you didn't disturb them. Then there was one extremely tense moment in which I found myself running full speed away from a relatively small Rhyhorn as none of my pokemon could damage the thing. Then I made camp and slept.

* * *

I woke up and then woke the team up. We shared a silent breakfast and then got up. At that point I was beginning to worry, I hadn't run into anyone besides the mysterious man who gave me the book and this was supposed to be a very well traveled area, which told me I was not in the right place. Not only that but I could feel myself beginning to slowly go insane both due to a lack of human interaction and that I had no idea what time it was. I mean I could check my pokedex and it would tell me but even then I had no feeling that it was that time, due to constantly being constrained in this cave. Ten PM felt like two PM, two PM felt like two AM and two AM felt like six Am. It just made no sense and it was beginning to get to me, that was until I met her…

I was stumbling my way through a, particularly dark tunnel when I heard some shouts ahead. Remembering what happened to me I began to sprint in the direction it was coming from and when I emerged I stumbled upon her and her team being harassed by a flock of Zubats. She couldn't have been more different from myself, short whereas I was tall for my age, long fiery red hair while I had shorter black hair and she seemed to be wearing what seemed to be a dress whereas I preferred to wear more practical and efficient clothing. She was beautiful and I knew it even at my young age.

I quickly ordered Nyx in to help and with both of us working together it was over in a matter of minutes with multiple dead Zubat on the ground and the rest flying off in retreat.

"Thanks, bloody annoying bastards ain't they?." She said making her way over to me and a dazzling smile on her face a distinct Hoenn accent in her voice.

"Uh ya, no sweat it. I mean don't problem." I stammered out to her and she laughed.

"Take it, easy kid, I don't bite." She said smiling once more this time more gently.

"Yes, sorry, yes!" I again stammered out causing her to laugh again.

"I like you, you're polite." She commented and laughed loudly some more, god that laugh sounded nice.

"Thank you," I said quietly, for some reason happy that this girl liked me.

"I'm Katie." She said extending a hand.

"MG" I replied shaking her hand back.

"No shit." She said laughing some more. "No wonder your Murkrow kicked those annoying Zubats ass." She said now with admiration in her voice causing me to blush.

"You've heard of me?"

"Half of Johto has, that kill on those blokes Cacnea was one of the most brutal things I've ever seen." She said and I winced at the mention of Zach Cacnea.

"Oooh tender subject?" She asked and I nodded feeling familiar nausea accompanied with the memory boiling in my stomach. "First kill?" She asked and I nodded again. "Ahh, it gets easier I'll tell ya that." She said and I just nodded again fearing if I opened my mouth I would vomit again.

"How long have you been traveling?" I asked when I managed to swallow my bile down.

"Eh, I think I'm about two, two and a half years now? I was a bit of a late bloomer, left when I turned twelve." She said pondering and I couldn't believe she didn't even know. Here I was planning everything out and she seemed to just do it.

"How long you been in Johto?" I asked.

"I think four months now? I traveled around Hoeen for a while but well, let's just say I needed a new start so I came here." She said flashing another smile though this time I could see that it was only courteous and she wasn't actually smiling at least her eyes weren't.

"Wow, two years and you couldn't beat some Zubat?" I said and then winced as I realized what I said.

"Ouch." She replied but this time the smile was back and there was a fire in her eyes. "I'll have ya know I could take them easily but I was training this little guy." She said gesturing to a small armor plated rodent I was just noticing for the first time.

"No way, you got a Shrew?" I asked super excited.

"Yeah a child of the Jason Zechlenshmerg himself." She said and I squealed in excitement.

Sandshrew and its evolution Sandslash were the legends of the underdog community. With there armored plating, they were always considered decent as a defensive threat that not even a Krookodiles teeth could crack. It wasn't until a man named Jason Zeclenshmerg appeared that anybody even considered it anything but a beginners pokemon. However, Jason proved them all wrong with his now infamous RushSlash as it's referred to.

A nobody. Jason just barely squeaked into the pools of one of the top world tournaments and was up against the number one battler in the world at the time, May Maple an ex-champion of Hoenn. May was sporting her championship winning team including a Salamence, Blaziken, and Metagross and Jason was sporting a simple and team with his only high-level threat being a Tyranitar. The match was going just as expected with May up five to three, having only lost her Salamance to a lucky shot from a Rhydons stone edge. That was when the RushSlash came out, see some Sandshrews and Sandslashes, typically the runt of the litter or ones with less pronounced defensive capabilities instead learned how to move twice as fast under the cover of the sandstorms of there native homes and a sandstorm was brewing and the Slash started sweeping. Within ten minutes May's Blaziken and Metagross were down, and in twenty so was the rest of her team. In one of the biggest upsets in competitive history, May went from being up five to zero, too losing three to zero and being knocked out of the tourney. Jason went on to place fifth in the tourney, losing to another weather team and since then Sandslash has been the want of many new trainers, hence why I was so excited to see one.

"Where did you get it?" I asked, plans and ideas now beginning to spin inside my head.

"Don't get too excited kid, this one cost me three hundred thousand dollars." She said simultaneously crushing my dreams and causing my mouth to go wide. I had only made around twenty thousand from that last tournament.

"How'd you get that kinda money?" I asked staring at what I now thought must be a Hoenn celebrity or something.

"That ties into why I left Hoenn and like I said, I'd rather not go into that." She said and with that, the subject was closed.

"So… do you know how to get out of here?" I asked nervously after a few moments of awkward silence passed.

"Shit, I was gonna ask you the same thing." She said laughing and nervously rubbing the back of her head. "Well, ya wanna stick together?" She asked and all of a sudden my heart was aflutter again.

"Um sure."

"Haha, I told ya mate, no need to be so nervous, I am bloody person same as you." She said and I nodded.

"So uh, what other teammates you got," I said quickly changing the subject to one I could understand and she answered me by releasing two more pokeballs, one being a large horned and black canine and the other being a small, red and fluffy canine, the latter of which immediately ran over to me and began begging me to pet it which I happily obliged.

"This is Rex." She said gesturing to the Houndoom which was incredibly standoffish and sticking by her own side. "And that little goofball is Hector but be careful, he'll love ya to death." She said laughing as Hector slobbered all over me. "What about you? Just the Eevee, Murkrow and Flaffy and I winced at the mention of Pann.

"Actually just the Eevee and Murkrow, wild Onix," I said and she winced sympathy knowing that's all I had to say.

"Sorry mate, that part doesn't ever get easier." She said and I nodded trying once again not to break down and just barely succeeding.

"So what do ya say to a friendly battle before we find our way out of here." She asked and just like that my shy side was completely gone.

"You're on," I said smirking.

She kicked my ass, it's not even worth describing the battle as it was over so fast that I blinked and both my pokemon were unconscious. I just stood there dumbfounded, mouth so agape I could probably catch a Zubat in it.

"Don't look so shocked. I have been traveling for over two years." She said and I just nodded slowly unused to being trounced so easily. "Doesn't help that I'm a five badger either." She mentioned nonchalantly and now my surprise turned to anger.

"A five badger? Why'd you fight me then?" I asked now getting into motion and beginning to heal Nyx and Vortumna.

"I wanted to see what all the bloody fuss was about, so far I ain't too impressed with the great MG." She said smirking and I could feel my temper begin to rise even more. I was starting to already regret agreeing to travel with her.

"I mean did you have to use the Houndoom?" I asked trying my best not too let my anger into my voice.

"Lesson number one rookie, never ever go easy on someone." She said in mock lecturing voice.

"You're giving me lessons now?" I yelled now not caring about the clearly evident anger in my voice.

"Yup, I'm you're new mentor kid, get used to it." She said with that same infuriating smirk.

"I don't need a mentor, I've been preparing for this my entire life, years of research was put into every detail," I yelled back at her.

"Yes and I've been living it for the past two years, which leads me to lesson two. Ditch the books rook. They'll do nothing but slow ya down and most of the shit ya have to learn by doing not seeing." She lectured back again and I slowly swallowed down my anger, I was not gonna punch this girl I was not.

"Alright, and what may I ask is lesson three?" I asked visibly shaking.

"Lesson three is take a chill pill lass. There ain't no point being so high strung and it's certainly a lot less fun." She said and that was it I lunged and was promptly knocked on my ass by a now growling Growlithe. "Lesson number four? Don't try and fight someone stronger than you, you'll just end up getting your ass kicked." She said smiling softer now and pulling her Growlithe off of me. I was right I really was gonna regret traveling with her.

"Come on let's just get going," I said as I began walking away from her.

"Just ya wait, one of these I'm gonna get a smile outta ya." She said running to catch up with me.

* * *

We continued onwards through the cave, still completely and utterly lost and our pokedex without any sort of signal to guide us through it. The worst part is that Katie would just not shut up. She always had some anecdote to add in whenever we passed something, like that one time her Growlithe got stuck in a Combee nest or when her Houndoom ate a Trapinch and she had to spend three months being chased by an angry momma Flygon and I must have heard the story about her Sandshrew thinking she was her mother at least four times alone in those few hours. I hated it so much, I had begun to miss the days spent alone with just me Nyx and Vortumna, hell I even began to miss my mother's beatings, at least I could take the physical pain but this, this was pure torture and should be banned by the KanJoan government for cruel acts against humanity.

When we set up camp that night, we had Hector start the fire as Rex's fire was a little too poisonous and we sat very close around it as caves typically ended up being cold especially around this time of year.

"Haha, this reminds me of this one time when ole rex was just a pup." " Katie started and I rolled my eyes thinking here we go again. " It was me, Rex. Samwell the Altaria, Kizno the Drowzee and me starter Johnny, the sweetest bloody Camerupt ya ever met. I had a much larger team at the time ya see." She said and now my interest was piqued, she never talked about her other teammates.

"What happened to them?" I responded without even thinking.

"That be a sad story. One I'll only tell after a few good drinks." She replied the usual cheeriness gone from her voice.

"Sorry." I apologized, knowing just how much losing a pokemon could actually hurt.

"It's all good missy. Now, where was I?" She said pondering to herself. "Oh right, well I was having a hard time trying to get Rex to follow my commands, he didn't like anyone challenging his authority and all that alpha, beta bullshit. Well, I was trying to get him to start a fire because I didn't know about his poison and we were on top of a mountain and I was freezing my tits off. Well, I finally had enough, so I ordered Jonny to start the fire and he did, good mon Johnny. " She said and this time I could see a couple of tears leaking from her eyes. "Anyways, Rex the little shit at the time, do ya know what he does?"

"What?" I ask back humoring her.

"He begins pissin out the fire as Johnny's lightin it. If ya thought Houndour smoke was toxic, yee should try the smell of Houndour piss. The stuff is so foul it'll knock ya unconscious after one whiff." She said laughing hard now. " And it becomes this battle of Johnny's flamethrower versus Rex's piss to see who can last longer and within ten seconds Rex is losing and whimpering, and what happens next?"

"What?" I asked a smile creeping to my face. For the first time being invested in one of her tales.

"Kizno walked right up beside Rex and began pissin on the fire too. I couldn't believe my eyes, and with that, they began to beat back Johnnys flames and he was getting angry and Johnny was not one to normally get angry. So he began stomping the ground around us sending little tremors through the earth, and… and." She said laughing so hard she couldn't even finish the sentence. "He made Kizno fall back and begin rolling around pissin all over himself and Rex." She said beginning to roll back and forth laughing even harder. "So Rex turns and begins dribbling the last of his piss on Kizno and Johnny lights the fire." She finished wiping tears of laughter from her eyes and I was laughing right alongside her, god it felt good to laugh again.

"See I told ya I'd getcha. Now ya owe me fifty quid." She said.

"What why?" I asked still chuckling.

"Cause I made a bet to myself and since I can't pay myself you're gonna have to." She explained and I was even more confused.

"But that doesn't even ma-"

"Relax, it was a joke." She said laughing even harder and I sighed again wondering why I was around her.

After that, we turned in for the night, When morning came I woke up early as I had always done but Katie was dead asleep, so I made some breakfast, let out Vortumna and Nyx for some morning training, treated Vortumna's wounds, trained some more. Stopped them both from attacking Rex as I didn't wanna have to wait all day for them to heal up again. Ate lunch, trained even more and only then did Katie finally wake up.

"How long you been up?" She asked as she sat up.

"Five hours," I replied nonchalantly as I walked over and began packing up my stuff.

"Bloody hell where do ya get all the energy from?" She asked yawning loudly as she stood up. "If I got as much sleep as ya I'd be unable to move for the day."

"Actually I slept in today, we were up kinda late last night," I said finishing rolling up my sleeping bag.

"You're a machine." She mocked back wide-eyed.

"No, I just wanna be the best," I said back matter of factly. "Ya can't do that by being lazy."

"Ya calling me lazy." She replied angrily.

"Well yes, if ya got up before one, I wouldn't think so, but well here we are," I explained to her.

"Well, ya got me there." She replied shocking me with how understanding she was and for a while, we packed up our belongings in silence. "Shall we?" She asked after she finally finished packing.

"Let's go," I replied and we began traveling once more.

It took six more days of traveling before we finally reached the end of the cave and together we both stepped out into the sunlight and fresh air, the seeds of a wonderful friendship planted.

* * *

 _Edited as of /19/09/2019_

 **MG**

Nyx: Murkrow, Female, Level Nineteen.

Vortumna: Eevee, Female, Level Sixteen.

 **Katie**

Rex: Houndoom, Male, level Forty

Hector: Growlithe, Male, Level Thirty-Two

Gonzales: Sanshrew, Male: Level Nine


	9. SOB

_We walked the endless plains of our world_

 _Fearless, careless and full of sin_

 _And for our blasphemy our mother and father punished us_

 _They created Kyogre and Poseidon_

 _Who flooded our world and washed away our lives and our sins_

 _Yet in all there might mother and father were merciful_

 _They created Groudon and Gaia_

 _Made high mountains and plateaus for the righteous to survive the flood._

 _And they fought each other to establish there chosen goals_

 _And so did there followers_

 _And many died._

 _And thus a hero emerged._

 _A young man by the name of Hermes_

 _Who prayed day and night to father and mother_

 _Begged and pleaded for his people's salvation_

 _And who led the rest of civilization against the warring factions_

 _And which resulted in his death by the fanatics_

 _But mother and father were merciful_

 _And revived the man with the power to rival there own and gave him a partner_

 _And so Hermes and Rayquaza took to the sky_

 _Where neither land nor sea could touch._

 _Together with the great power mother and father gave them_

 _They put Kyogre and Groudon to sleep_

 _And ended the war_

 _And they made peace between Sister Gaia and Brother Poseidon_

 _And forever held the bridge of peace in this world should Kyogre and Groudon awaken_

 _And became the champion of humanity._

* * *

When we stepped outside the first thing I did was take a nice deep breath of fresh air. It felt amazing and I couldn't suppress a grin as Vortumna excitedly went running around both me and Katie in circles in her own little bliss of escaping the cave. Nyx, of course, went right to the nearest tree and as far away from us she could, that was my little girl and it made me smile even harder.

"Nice ta see a smile on your face, Ms. Ice queen," Katie commented and as I turned to look at her, I was shocked to see that her first reaction to leaving the cave was to light up a cigarette. "What?" She asked me as I gawked at her.

"We just got into the fresh air, and you start sucking down one of those?" I ask incredulously.

"Well, I didn't wanna clog tha cave with second-hand smoke, that would make me a right cunt now wouldn't it." She said taking another long deep drag of her cigarette.

"Well uh yeah, I guess." I stammered out and she smirked smugly making me wanna hit her until I remembered the last time I tried that.

"Lesson number five? I'm always right." She lectured and then burst into laughter at the clear expression of anger I had on my face. "Come on I think we're about a two-day journey from Opal town." She said and the thought of a nice warm shower instantly brightened up my mood. However, it was quickly darkened when I felt a ton of vibration within my backpack and I quickly took out the culprit, my Pokedex...

"Um just one moment, I need to check this," I said turning away from Katie.

* * *

" _Hey I saw your tournament run in Marigold, and I was just wondering if you were okay, I know my first kill was really rough. Oh and also I got an unwanted egg if ya want it? I'll even sell it to ya sixty percent off regular price. Call me when ya get this."_

 _-Breeder Cale sixteen days ago_

" _Hey I don't know where ya are but I'm worried about ya squirt, Ya haven't called me yet and after the way you took off after that tourney, I'm a little scared."_

 _-Breeder Cale eight days ago_

" _Hey, I guess you must have entered Union Cave, and have no service, anyways that Egg I have is still here and pretty close to hatching and well it's yours if you still want it. Call me._

 _-Breeder Cale six hours ago_

I nervously walked away from Katie and rang Cale and after three rings he picked up.

"Hello?" He questioned when he picked up.

"Hi, um it's MG…" I nervously responded and proceeded to have an ear full shouted at me through my Pokedex. When he finally calmed down and I explained I was fine, we agreed to meet at Opal town in around two days, after that, I hung up and returned to Katie.

* * *

"Who was that?" She asked immediately on my return.

"Oh just my breeder," I responded and started walking forward in the direction of Opal town.

"Wait a second ya have ya own bloody breeder?" She asked in astonishment. "What kinda royalty shat you outta there womb." She asked and it made me smile for a second, she certainly had a way with words.

"He's not my breeder, he just happens to be a breeder I know," I replied nonchalantly causing her to be even more outraged.

"And this here breeder, does he give ya discounts? Chances no one else has? Unwanted items and everything?" She asked the same bewilderment in her voice.

"Well um… yes." I said back blushing nervously.

"I don't fuckin believe it, she's got herself a fuckin breeder." She shouted to no one in particular. "Well, little Miss Goddess. Ain't ya fucking perfect then." She shot at me sarcastically and I grinned wider, I was happy to have one thing over her.

"Shall we get going then?" I said and began walking even faster.

"Hey wait up." She said before running to catch up.

We walked and bantered back and forth for a few hours until finally, the sun began to set and we made camp. I went and gathered firewood or to be more specific I went to and then Nyx dropped a lot of it on my head, the bitch and when it was lit Katie started on the food, that was the deal we arranged.

"Ya know I always wanted to be a cook when I was a little girl," Katie said as she slowly roasted a Bidoof that was unfortunate enough to stumble upon our little camp.

"Well, why didn't you?" I asked back as I read some pages from the book the stranger gave me.

"Money." She said and I snorted in agreement., "That and me mum and dad never woulda approved." She explained with a hint of resentment pouring through her voice,

"Well fuck them then," I replied and she let out a long laugh,

"I don't know what kinda shit you Johtoans are into but we tend not to do that to our family members in Hoenn." She shot back and it was my turn to let out a chuckle.

"In all seriousness though, you don't seem the type to care about what your parents think," I said back.

"Well, when ya mums a gym trainer and ya dads an ex-competitive battler, who drill into ya how important it is ta keep the family legacy goin. Ya would ignore what ya want too." She explained some more that same bitterness creeping into her tone. "What about your parents?" She asked back. "Ya doing this ta make them proud or somethin?"

"They're dead," I replied without emotion, still not sure how that made me feel.

"Ah sorry about that then." She apologized solemnly.

"Don't worry about it. My mother was an abusive drug addict and my father was an alcoholic enabler." I said laughing back dryly and when I looked at her she stared back at me within something else in her eyes.

"Dinners done." She finally replied after a few minutes and with that, we ate in silence and went to bed in silence.

* * *

We both woke up early the next morning with the suns rise blinding us and reminding us of being outside. We packed up in silence and as we walked along the edge of the forest we bantered back and forth chattily like nothing happened the night before. Vortumna and Hector run up and down the path chasing each other the entire time with there boundless energy, while Nyx flew freely dropping the occasional twig on me and to his annoyance Rex who stayed very close to us.

I also caught a Caterpie, Weedle and a couple of Kakuna along the way. I knew that in the town of the bug gym, I could probably sell a few bug types for a decent amount of money and it was nice to log somethings in my research dex, so I didn't feel like a sham with it the whole time. Eventually, we sat down for lunch and some training before continuing on our trek and as we did my mind began to wander to our destination.

Opal town was a place I was very excited to visit, it was one of three major fronts in the Kanjoan war of unification, which take place from the year three thousand, eighty-seven to three thousand ninety-two almost thirty-seven years ago from the current date. Hundreds of thousands died in the mass war of the two regions until Johto surrendered unconditionally and the continent was united under one league, the current indigo league.

Opal town suffered among the worst in the war, being the eastern front for Johto invaders. It was here one of the grandest sieges in the history of our world happened lasting almost the entire war. It was a Kantonian general by the name of Arthur Currie that led Kantoan troops through the battle and invented the strategy of the rolling barrage. Sending dozens of Voltorb, Electrode and Golem rolling forwards into the enemy line, those that weren't stopped crushed hundreds of enemy troops, and it didn't matter if they were stopped, As Currie ordered them all to explode and then leading his troops he charged through the explosions and took Opal town for his own, what was once thought to be unconquerable, even if he had first reduced it to ash and would be a turning point for the rest of the war. It was this brutal ingenuity that earned him the nickname Surge. A nickname that would stick for the rest of his life and help lead him into earning his place as gym leader of Vermillion city.

Nowadays rebuilt there lays a massive graveyard where one can come to pay their respects to the fallen and is the only place in the world where a certain flower grew. One of my grandparents died in that war, shortly after my father was born and I hoped to go and pay my respects. That and I loved history and wished to experience the grand history this place held.

We arrived early in Opal town, just as night began to fall and we made a beeline for the pokemon center and agreed to share a room, so it would be a bit cheaper. After losing rock paper scissors I agreed that Katie could have the first shower, and when I was done showering I came back to a more nicely dressed Katie then I thought I would, and blushing I remembered my first impressions of her and how good looking she actually was. Unfortunately for me, she caught me staring.

"What?" She asked and I quickly looked away blushing even more.

"Uh, nothing, what are you all dressed up for?" I asked abruptly changing the subject.

"Oh, isn't it obvious? We're going to go have a drink.": She replied like it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Aren't we underage?" I asked nervously.

"We're trainers, Ya show them your trainer card and ya can get in anywhere." She explained and I just swallowed nervously.

"Well I'd rather not drink, it kills brain cells and-" I started but was quickly cut off.

"Oh shut your bloody trap and live a little." She said and I did quickly shut up and giving in to peer pressure, I changed into something comfortable and followed her out the door. I remember seven stages from that night.

* * *

 _Stage one_

 _Drinking_

* * *

We got to our first bar and to my surprise Katie was right, we simply flashed our trainer cards and we were seated. With some live jazz being played in the background, it had a nice casual atmosphere. I have to admit that Katie knew what she was doing bringing me there for my first bar.

"We'll take two shots of Kalosian Vodka and then two glasses of May Maple Razz Wine.." Kalosian Vodka, Katie said to the waitress when she came by. "So how ya feeling?" She asked me once the waitress left.

"Nervous," I stammered out back to her.

"Don't be, I'll take good care of ya." She said with a wink and suddenly I felt even more uneasy and then the waitress came back with our drinks. "To a terrible hangover!" She half yelled, half toasted and I raised my glass back, and we both knocked our shots back, causing me immediately to start coughing and sputtering.

"What the hell was that?" I asked when I calmed down.

"The first step," Katie replied laughing harshly and then we sat and sipped our wine while chatting.

* * *

 _Stage Two_

 _Tipsy_

* * *

"Woah, this is weird," I said feeling a bit lightheaded after I finished my first glass of wine.

"What's weird?" Katie asked back, as she quickly ordered this time a couple of glasses of aged Hoenn scotch.

"This feeling," I replied back, not too sure what to make of it.

"Oh that, ya it gets better." She said laughing. "God I love newbies."

"So Ms. Kaytay. What is your deal?" I asked her.

"Uh, what do you mean?" She questioned back.

"Why you so upbeat all the time?

"Well ya gotta be, ya either forget the bad stuff and be happy or ya go insane." She explained. "That and a good strong drink certainly helps." She joked afterward and I laughed alongside her.

Stage Three.

Giggley

* * *

The scotch was gross, Katie drank it much faster than I did and she finished her second glass in the time it took me to finish my first. By the end of it though I began to feel amazing and began giggling quite happily to myself for no reason in particular.

"What's so funny?" Katie asked me and it caused me to laugh even harder.

"Everything," I replied loudly enough that it made Katie jump back a bit.

"Aww, drunk you is so cute." She snapped back and I blushed heavily.

"You're so cute all the time." I retorted back and then gasped loudly and covered my mouth, causing her to burst once more into loud laughter and I shortly followed suit. The two of us laughed together for at least a minute before Katie suggested we switch to another place. I nodded in agreement and stumbled getting up, with Katies help we stumbled to another bar, this time one with much more vibrant music.

 _Stage Four_

 _Dancey_

* * *

When we got into this bar, Katie immediately led us to the bar, where we shared another couple of shots and I took them much better this time. Then I began bumping and grooving to the music, which was weird as I had never danced before in my life. Katie quickly led us onto the dance floor and I flailed my limbs around with as much spontaneity as I could. At least until Katie showed me how to actually dance.

We danced and danced and danced, and Katie left to get us some drinks, while I continued my horrid attempt at dancing. Eventually, some young guy came up to me and asked me to dance and I in all my amazing wisdom ran away in fright.

 _Stage Five_

 _Cryie_

* * *

In my drunken stupor, I realized how hungry I actually was and stumbled my way out of the bar. Luckily in the surrounding central street, I spotted quite a few places to eat and stumbled my way into one of them. There I ordered some dish I don`t even remember and a glass of wine, this time instead made from Pecha berries.

Enjoying my food. I sat there for a while eating hungrily and sipping my drink until I remembered Katie's existence. After paying my bill I quickly stumbled my way out of the restaurant and back into the club. Where after some short searching I found her wandering around looking for me. Upon spotting me she ran over and hugged me.

"What the bloody hell, where were you?" Asked, yelling in anger and tears began to well in my eyes.

"I'm sorry, there was this guy. He asked me to dance and I didn't know what to do, so I ran. Then I couldn't find you and then I was hungry, so I got something to eat and I'm sorry." I stammered out very slurred and nervously.

"It's okay, just don't do it again, alright?" She asked and I nodded. "Now come on, let's go drink some more."

* * *

 _Stage Six_

 _Nothing_

I don't remember a single thing.

* * *

 _Stage Seven_

 _Hangover_

* * *

When I woke up I felt like Hector had tackled me all over again. When I looked down I was shocked to find myself completely clothless. I was even more shocked when I felt the bile rise up from my throat and I ran to the bathroom and hurled inside the toilet. Wiping my mouth I quickly washed my hands and began sipping greedily from the tap and then collapsed back into bed and fell asleep.

When I awoke next it was to my Pokedex vibrating and with a groan, I picked it up and saw that Cale left me a message saying he was in town. I groaned some more and ignored it but before I could fall back asleep, the door opened and in walked Katie.

"Rise and Shine, kiddo." She said laughing when I groaned an unintelligible response back to her.

"Why I am I naked?" I finally asked when I felt I could speak.

"You fucked like six lads last night." She responded and I shot up in fear.

"What?" I asked back shocked.

"Oh yeah, it was crazy to watch, though you're a lot louder than I thought you'd be?" She said and I began to shake with fear.

"Really?" I asked nervously.

"Nah of course not, I told ya I'd take care of ya, didn't I?" She explained and I let out a sigh of relief.

"Then why am I naked?" I asked again.

"Ya gurped all over your clothes, I figured ya didn't wanna sleep in that, so I helped ya take it off." She explained.

"Thanks," I replied and she just shrugged it off. "Does it always feel like this?" I asked my head still pounding heavily.

"Pretty much."

"I'm never drinking again," I said and she laughed some more.

"Sure ya aren't. Now come on don't ya have some meeting to go to or something?" She asked and I groaned and got up to get changed. Then the two of us left the room a little worse in some aspects but a lot better in others.

* * *

 **MG**

Nyx: Murkrow, Female, Level Nineteen.

Vortumna: Eevee, Female, Level Sixteen.

 **Katie**

Rex: Houndoom, Male, level Forty

Hector: Growlithe, Male, Level Thirty-two

Gonzales: Sanshrew, Male: Level Ten


	10. Helter Skelter

_As a symbol of peace_

 _Brother Poseidon and Sister Gaia came together_

 _And a new child was born_

 _One of the name Demeter_

 _And father blessed upon her a new partner_

 _One of the name Shaymin_

 _Together they transformed the wartorn land_

 _Into one full of grass and fauna_

 _And yet the fauna slowly withered away_

 _For it had endless water and earth_

 _Yet nothing for it to feed off of_

 _And so Apollo and Cresellia were created_

 _Together they created the sun_

 _And guided it across the night sky each day_

 _And yet the grass which once withered_

 _Now became so strong_

 _It dared to challenge_

 _Hermes for his rule_

 _And the gods above him_

 _So the gods created Artemis and Darkrai_

 _And they created the moon_

 _Which would overthrow the sun_

 _For half of the day_

 _And so we got the night_

 _And thus ended the grasses reign_

 _Over before it began_

* * *

Katie made sure that the first thing we did after leaving the room was to go and grab a cup of coffee, another first for me. She said it would help with the horrible pounding in my head, it did not. However, after having a couple of glasses of water and some food I began to feel like I could function once more. So I quickly sent a message back to Cale informing him of what room we were staying in and then made my way back there for a quick nap, while Katie left to explore the city. One I did not get as almost as soon as I got there, Cale knocked on my door causing me to groan loudly while I walked over and opened it.

"Hello, Misses Graham." He said smiling widely at me and I nodded slightly, in a little too much pain to talk. "Are you alright?" He asked, concern coming over his face.

"Yeah, um sorry. I uh had a little bit to drink last night." I said waving his concerns away and he burst into joyful laughter.

"I've certainly been there." He said still chuckling to himself. "If you want I could come back later?: He asked and I quickly shook my head, he had already waited too long for a reply in the first place and I honestly just wanted to get this over with.

"No, it's fine. You said you had an egg for me?" I half asked half groaned causing him to chuckle some more.

"Yes, we found it in one of our enclosures a few weeks ago and have been incubating it since." He explained and I nodded along. "We have a guess of who it's a mother is, being an egg and all it belongs to a nonmammal, but we have no clue who the father is."

"Ah and that's why I'm getting it so cheap," I said now nodding in understanding.

"Precisely, So it'll cost ya twenty-four thousand pokedollars." He said and I jumped up in shock, a mistake really as it increased the dizziness I felt.

"I thought you were giving me a discount?" I yelled in shock.

"I am, the original price was forty-thousand pokedollars, and hey we'll throw the incubator in for free too." He bargained and I just shook my head in disbelief.

"Why would I pay that much for an unknown pokemon?" I asked trying to turn the pressure back on him.

"It's simple, the breeding center I work for, only accepts those of elite members, or to be more precise those of the elite four and gym leaders." He explained and suddenly I was ready to throw my money at this deal.

You see Pokemon after being bred are typically stronger when bred with a stronger member of there species, natural selection and evolution at it's finest. After all, if a pokemon gets strong and passes down those genes and attributes to its kin, then they will naturally be stronger than another pokemon without those attributes. As such the brood of an Elite member or Gym leader often could go for hundreds of thousands as they typically had the strongest of there species known to this world. For that Twenty-Four thousand was an easy steal.

"Alright, let me check my bank account," I said and quickly pulled up my pokedex. I saw through winning battles in my travels and the winnings from Marigold. That I had roughly twenty-six thousand dollars to my name. This meant that if I bought this I would be very tight on supplies until Azalea town where I could sell, a few of the pokemon I caught for some spare change. "Alright before I do this, what's the catch?" I asked and he grinned widely.

"See I knew I liked you, you're a smart one." He said wagging his finger at me. "Just what I said before, you enter an exclusive agreement with me, to only buy from my breeding center, well at least for one year. That and you tell me as soon as it hatches what it is, alright?" He said and I nodded and shook his hand, thinking that was a steal. "One more thing, if you only take Elite and Gym leader pokemon, why were you so interested in breeding Nyx?" I asked curiously.

"Well, I believe that you're gonna make it really far one day, miss Graham, far enough that you'll certainly hit our standards." He complimented me, making my face turn a bright scarlet at the praise. "But enough talk, if you could just transfer me the funds, I'll happily hand over the egg to you." He said gesturing to my Pokedex and I did as he said. Afterward, he removed from his bag a glass container, inside of it was a darkish red, almost maroon color, with yellow spots.  
"This right here is the best incubator on the marker, constantly feeding heat onto the egg to incubate and help hatch it. It will beep suddenly and loudly when the egg is hatching, so you don't have to constantly watch it. And finally, it is reinforced with Bullet seed proof glass, capable of taking the impact from a Brelooms bullet seed, and a single kick from a Blaziken, you have no need to worry about it breaking on a fall." He explained and I nodded along happy with my purchase.

I thanked him for his time and this opportunity and he left quickly, explaining that this was a busy season for his center, as many of the feline and canine pokemon left there would be going into heat soon. I took my newly found privacy to admire my egg for a few minutes before finally succumbing to exhaustion, and taking a small and quick nap.

* * *

I awoke roughly an hour later still feeling a bit nauseous but ultimately a lot better. I shot a quick message to Katie, telling her that I was finished with my business and could meet up whenever. To no one's surprise, she was at a bar and her message was pretty shoddily typed I took a quick shower, threw on some clothes and made my way to where she specified.

When I arrived, Katie was nowhere near as just drunk as I thought she was at first from her message, and when she offered me a drink I declined swiftly as the smell of alcohol made me gag and want to vomit.

"So how'd your little meeting go, little miss sunshine," Katie asked and I pulled the egg and incubator out of my bag. "Wow, that's definitely gonna be a fire type." She exclaimed upon seeing the egg.

"How do you know?" I asked curiously.

"Look at the coloring. That kinda shade of red can only belong to a fire type family member. Not only that but if you put your hand closer to the egg, like so." She said opening the incubator and putting her hand down slightly into it and quickly retrieving it out of it. "You'll see that is very hot in there." She explained confidently.

"Well isn't the incubator supposed to keep it hot," I asked back doubting her knowledge.

"It's supposed to keep it warm, that right there is pure scalding heat. Nothing but a fire type could emit something like that." She explained some more and I followed her and put my hand inside but couldn't even get nearly as close as she did.

"How did you know that?" I asked, now filled with curiosity.

"You've seen my team, I specialize mainly in fire types." She said smirking cockily.

"Yes. but the fire types you use are mainly mammals." I retorted back.

"Correct but that's only the ones I have left, you never saw what pokemon I had before I came here." She shot me down and I knew she had won.

"So what kinda fire type did you have, that emerged from an egg?"

"Salandit, found a nest near Mt Chimney after I uh, dealt with the Salazzle." She said with a nervous chuckle and I understood immediately what she meant by dealt with it.

"Any strong?" I asked and she shook her head.

"Nah, it was male so it'd never evolve," she explained. "So what do you think's inside it?" She asked quickly changing the subject.

"No clue, but at least we can rule out most mammals," I said and she nodded. From there our conversation turned to us mostly guessing as to what it could possibly. Mine most hoped for was a Torchic but I knew there was no way I'd get that lucky. After that, we turned into all sorts of subjects including Katie incessantly making fun of me for the night before to my chagrin. It stayed like that and was pretty nice at least until the tv's in the bar all flipped to an emergency broadcast.

"Breaking News, a new suspect has risen in the murder case of former champion Ethan Goldberg, we go to the current champion for more details." The newscaster said before it cut to an aged red-haired man, wearing a black suit and a long red cape, Lance Jormungandr Yilbegan the current league champion.

"My fellow Kanjoans, a terrible tragedy befell our country only Twenty-two weeks ago when our beloved and missed champions life was tragically cut short when a wild Xatu approached and through a series of psionic based attacks, murdered the former champion for trespassing upon it lands," Lance explained and I began to feel something fishy was about, there's no way that Ethan would travel without a teammate out, especially somewhere as dangerous as Mt, Silver, and no way a rogue Xatu had the power to beat his entire team by itself.

"I know many of you are wondering how a Xatu could have beaten the champions team by itself, and I'm sad to say that it did not, but instead there was a malfunction with Mr. Goldbergs pokeballs that caused his existing pokemon to return to it, and blocked him from releasing any new pokemon. Not a simple glitch but instead a malicious attack by one well known technological expert, a Mr. William Albatross, otherwise known as Bill." He announced and nobody in the entire bar spoke a word, hanging on Lances every word. "At two PM this afternoon Cerulean time, officials attempted to arrest Mr. Albatross but he had already fled his home. I'm putting this out as an official warning if you see this man." Lance said and a picture of Bill emerging from his house on the bay of Cerulean appeared. "Do not approach him, for he is armed with a dangerous team of pokemon, and possibly whatever he used to disable Mr. Goldbergs pokeballs. Instead, report him to the rangers or the league and he will be taken care of swiftly. That is all, No further comments." Lance said and the screen switched back to the newscaster, who began throwing out all this information.

The bar remained silent after that, nobody moved more than the simple motion of moving there drink to there lips. My mind was spinning, I found it so weird that the infamous Bill would do something like this. I mean, he wasn't only renowned for creating the PC system but was also known for his anti Terrorist operations. Using his well-refined technical skills to alert authorities to the position of many rogue groups, such as remaining Rocket members and corrupt corporation leaders like the ex-president of Silph. Not only was Gold actively fighting towards the things that Bill believed in, but Bill back in the beginnings of Gold's journey, Bill saw something in him and gave him the Eevee that would become his flagship Jolteon. If he saw something like that in Gold before, what would make him turn on Gold so suddenly to commit murder like this? It just didn't make sense to me.

"Oy, MG." Katie's voice shouted out next to me snapping me out of my own thoughts.

"Sorry what?" I asked remembering exactly where we were again.

"Bloody took ya long enough." She said chuckling to herself. "I was asking if ya wanted to leave, this place is dead now."

"Yeah sure, I need to get some training in anyways," I said still half paying attention.

"That's a good idea." She agreed and we paid our bill quickly and left.

* * *

We walked far out of town and into the surrounding forestland, there we released our pokemon and they took the time to stretch out their limbs. Vortumna immediately ran over to me and I leaned down and scratched behind her ear, happy to see her limp gone. Not only that but I saw her fur in certain places begin to become quite a few shades lighter and that made me smile, it meant she was slowly getting closer to Evolution. Though it also meant I could rule out getting an Umbreon or a Vaporeon. However, my smile was quickly taken off my face when a stick fell and hit me in the back of the head.

Angrily I looked up to see Nyx in the trees cackling that little laugh of hers. I recalled and released her, quickly ordering Vortumna forward who tackled and pinned her. Then it was my turn to laugh at her misfortune. After that, I set up some rocks like pins and began running them through there basic agility drills and then turned to find Katie watching me intently.

"Hmm, that's a good way to build up there speed and stamina, but it does shit else.." She commented and I nodded along, what she said was very true.

"What would you suggest I do instead?" I asked back, hoping she could give me some tips.

"Well, first things first, it's smart to have em spar with each other."

"They do pretty regularly, usually after running these drills first," I explained and she nodded along silent and thoughtful.

"For the Krow, I'd have em life heavier and heavier things. She's a wee lass and looks to not be too strong. Build up what she can lift, and she'll be two parts strong and fast, As for the Eevee, I'd say ya best wait for her to evolve. No sense training her strength if she becomes an Espeon but also work on teaching her new tricks. Sure she can tackle and bite but teach her how to dig a hole and hide. At least that's my two cents." She explained and I nodded patiently and thanked her. Everything she said made perfect sense to me and I began instituting it at once in their training regimen. For Nyx I even made her do double duty, continuing her flying drills weaving in between trees while carrying heavier loads, which to my chagrin she frequently attempted to drop on my head.

"Goddammit," I screamed after one of Nyx's attacks hit its mark.

"Don't worry too much about it. She likes you." Katie commented trying to reassure me.

"How do you figure that? All she does it torment me." I complained.

"She's a dark type, there all like that to start, I mean bloody Rex used to be the devil back when I first got him." She said assuredly I grinned thinking back to that story she told me in the cave.

"How did ya get him to where he is now?" I asked, wanting for Arceus sake to finally tame Nyx.

"Time, patience, hard work or ya be a fuckin Artemis."

"Artemis?" I asked quizzically.

"Ah, shit wasn't supposed to say that." She said cursing herself out

"Wait," I said remembering something and quickly bringing out the book the man gave me. "Look in here it says something about Artemis, a god paired with Darkrai? How could someone be an Artemis, gods don't actually exist?" I asked nervously.

"Well, uh, I'll just say some people are special and leave it at that." She stammered out nervously and that triggered out a couple of other memories from the past.

"Shit, Falkner and someone else said I was special," I said not even thinking.

"How so?" She asked curiously.

"Not sure, they said I was different from others."

"Ya, that's what special means dumbass." She joked causing me to sigh heavily.

"No, they said they couldn't tell me, Falkner at least didn't know how. The other guy just said he wanted to leave it a surprise." I explained and Katie got really excited.

"Bloody fucking hell, you're one of us." She exclaimed in wonder.

"One of who!?" I yelled out angry that no one had told me what the fuck any of this meant.

"A child of the gods." She said.

* * *

Edited as of 19/09/2019

 **MG**

Nyx: Murkrow, Female, Level Twenty

Vortumna: Eevee, Female, Level Seventeen

 **Katie**

Rex: Houndoom, Male, level Forty-Two

Hector: Growlithe, Male, Level Thirty Four

Gonzales: Sanshrew, Male: Level Thirteen


	11. Child of the Gods

_Yet a new challenger would emerge_

 _Half Brothers both born of Hermes_

 _And sired by Poseidon and Gaia_

 _And so Zeus and Boreas were born_

 _And Father and Mother bestowed upon them a gift_

 _A partner to share by the name of Rem_

 _Who could control the three elements_

 _Of fire_

 _Of ice_

 _Of electricity_

 _And was said to be the fiercest dragon ever born_

 _The brothers ambitious above all else_

 _Used Rem's power_

 _And overthrew there father_

 _And became the next champions of Humanity_

 _Yet their ambition would be their downfall._

 _For they had separate beliefs_

 _One in truth_

 _The other in ideals_

 _And so they fought nigh endlessly_

 _And there fighting broke Rem in three._

 _The fire went to Apollo, to help him keep the night at bay_

 _And was named Reshiram_

 _The lightning went to Zeus, for ideas are quick yet fleeting_

 _And was named Zekrom_

 _The Ice went to Boreas, For the truth was often cold_

 _Yet the brothers continued to fight_

 _And in doing so_

 _Shattered the once great land_

 _Into pieces to drift away in the currents of Poseidon's home_

 _And thus the various lands_

 _Of Kanto_

 _Of Jotho_

 _Of Hoenn_

 _Of Sinnoh_

 _Of Unova_

 _Of Kalos_

 _Of Alola_

 _Of Galar_

 _Were Formed_

* * *

"A child of what?" I asked surprised.

"A child of the gods." Katie repeated, and I stood there in confusion for a few moments before Nyx dropped another stick on me.

"Goddammit," I yelled out snapping out of my stupor and recalling Nyx so it wouldn't happen again. "And what do you mean by that? My parents certainly weren't gods." I snapped back at Katie.

"Of course they weren't" She agreed.

"Then what do you mean?" I asked yelling loudly.

"It means one of your ancestors was a god and you still carry some of that holy blood in your veins." She started to explain but I quickly cut her off.

"Gods don't exist."

"But they once did." She butted in. "Bup bup bup, let me explain." She continued when I opened my mouth. "The gods existed a long time ago, in tandem with there legendaries."

"Yes like the book says." I injected but shut up at the glare she gave me.

"As I was saying, the gods existed a long time ago, they were created to serve the land and rule the land the regular people, or children of Hera as we call them." She explained.

"We?" I asked.

"The children of the gods."

"Ah okay, continue."

"Well, unfortunately, the gods… At least the non-pokemon ones were based on humanity, and we happen to be a wee bit power crazy."

"Just a wee bit?" I asked sarcastically and we both chuckled.

"Anyways, wars were fought, alliances made and broken, all in the name of becoming the ruler of the gods, or the champion of humanity, which is where the champion title comes from. Well eventually, though it differs from story to story and I'm sure that book of yours can tell ya a lot more about it. But Arceus and Hera stripped the gods of there invulnerability and most of there power, only retaining bits and pieces of it. Not only that but they kept the weaknesses associated with there powers."

"Weaknesses, what weaknesses, I thought they were gods?" I asked confused.

"Ughh," She sighed. "Alright, so they each were given their own domain right? Well, compare that domain to a type of pokemon. Much like the ones they were given to accompany them."

"So something like Poseidon would be a water type?" I asked, starting to follow along.

"Right!" She exclaimed. "Well in return for the cut of there power, their mortality and them retaining their weaknesses, they were given the ability to mate with the children of Hera and pass down their bloodline.

"Alright and if this bloodline has been passed down this far, then why isn't everyone a child of the gods or how hasn't it diluted itself out?" I asked still very skeptical of the whole thing.

"Good question, you're smarter than ya look." She shot back and I stopped the retort forming in my mouth. "Well, a lot of people do have a little minor holy blood in them."

"Minor blood?" I asked and then quickly apologized at the look she gave me.

"Yes Minor blood. When the gods had children, they realized something. Only the eldest child would obtain the full powers and weaknesses of there parents. This is what we call major holy blood. The younger children would obtain only a little bit of the power and weaknesses. What we call minor holy blood. The only time it didn't work this way is if two minor holy blood children mated, their child would be born of major holy blood." She explained and I was still really confused.

"Alright, and what can major holy blood do, that minor holy blood cannot?"

"A major holy blood can often manipulate their own element in certain ways. Let's take Poseidon for example. A child of Poseidon is at home in the water, they can swim faster than anyone else, can hold their breath for hours, bond easier with water types and have limited control over there element. Such as being able to move, shape and manipulate water to a minor degree."

"What's a minor degree?"

"If near a source of water they could pull some of it away or manipulate it to attack someone else. For example, make a wave to pull someone under the water. However, they suffer the same weaknesses too. A static shock can cause their limbs to go numb for hours, they get sunburnt and anemia very easily when too long and have trouble training those opposite of them like Fire types."

"And Minor bloods?" I asked.

"Well, Minor blood are similar but to a much smaller degree. Whereas there faster swimmers than the average person, they can't compare to a major blood. However, They also would only feel some more pain from an electric shock than you and me. Furthermore, Minor blood dilutes after two or three generations while Major blood does not" She explained some more and I was starting to get it.

"Alright is there any other differences between them and regular people?" I asked curiously and she nodded.

"Yes well usually but not always they tend to have similar personality types. For example, a child of Poseidon would usually be calm and patient, much like thee water they call home."

"And what would happen if to holy blood people had children?"

"Ah well, it depends. For most there, their child will be born of either major bloodline and gain a minor bloodline in return. The only difference being that if they have two children, both will get a major blood." She continued to lecture me and my mind was racing at all of the possibilities,

"Alright, so why isn't this widely known? This could be huge news!" I exclaimed, I was certain that this could be used to make humanities future so much better if it was common knowledge.

"Why does the oddish run from the Charmander?" She questioned back.

"Because it's weak to it?" I answered back questioningly.

"Bingo! Not only are we a minority but certain types go out of there way to hunt those weak to them or put themselves into power over others."

"But why?" I asked anger seeping into my voice.

"Fear, power, fun, lots of reason really and when someone is as powerful as you and you had the advantage. Would you not take care of them?" She asked and I sat there for a moment contemplating the answer.

"No… I for one don't think it's right to subject people to that kind of power plays, nor is it right to kill them." I answered.

"Even if they're trying ta kill you?" She retorted.

"Well if that's the only answer and in self-defense. Then yes?" I answered back questioningly

"Well, some people like to take pre-emptive self-defensive actions." She said which once more sent me spiraling into questioning silence.

"So then what are you?" I asked after a few moments of careful thinking and digestion.

"What da ya think after getting to know me?" She asked back and I thought back on all our interactions. Katie was passionate, sure she was always joking but it often cast light forward that would lead me out of my own darkness and depression. Not only that but she was barely affected by the heat of the incubator and trained mostly fire types.

"I'm going to guess a child of the fire god?" I half asked, half guessed.

"Correct, though who is the fire god?" She asked back and I began to look back on all I had read before. What symbolized fire, and what pokemon would be paired with that. Well, the sun and Apollo except he was paired with Cresselia who was a psychic type… Until Reshiram paired with him.

"You're a child of Apollo," I stated this time confidently.

"Yes, minor blood." She confirmed back and I gasped in awe, there was no way this could actually be real. "I can withstand greater amounts of heat than most people, and I have a natural bond with fire types. Haven't really noticed much more than that." She explained and I once more stood in awe at the information that was running through my brain

"So what do you think I am?" I asked eagerly wanting to know.

"Well, judging by your personality. I would have pegged you for an Artemis." She casually mentioned.

"Why's that?"

"You're shy and withdrawn, slender and quick and you certainly think like an Artemis." She told me. "However by the way that Murkrow treats ya, there's no bloody way in hell you're an Artemis."

"Then what am I?" I asked again impatiently.

"I was getting to that, you're tall, well taller than most your age at least. You're slender, patient and very smart. Maybe a Persephone." She broke down. "Grass." She clarified when I was about to ask. "Probably major blood since even a Hermes could sense something about you." She continued.

"Flying type?" I inquired and she nodded.

"Good guess." She praised me and I blushed red.

"Why wouldn't an uh… Hermes know?" I queried once more.

"Most types, won't know. Well, they might sense ya have major blood in ya, but that's about as much as they'll know." She clarified.

"Is that why people keep mentioning to go to Morty?" I asked

"Morty, what does he train?" Katie returned.

"He's the ghost trainer," I answered.

"A Hades, right. Yeah, Hades is one of three that can tell you what you are."

"What are the other two?"

"Well, technically it's four. "She said glaring at me when I was about to ask another question. "There's the trio and lady Hestia." She taught me.

"What's the trio?"

"Children of Athena, Delphi, and Morpheus."

"Who?" I injected.

"You're not at that part? It's my favorite part of the book." She shot back in shock.

"You've read the book?" I asked excitedly.

"Of course I've read the book. Everyone's read the book."

"I haven't."

"That's not the point!" She yelled in frustration and I threw my hands up in pacification.

"Sorry about that, anyway… All ya need to fuckin know is there the psychic types and they like Children of Hades can essentially read what type you are." She angrily continued. "Hades do it by reading your soul, and the trio does it by reading your mind."

"And Hestia?"

"Lady Hestia." She corrected me.

"Lady Hestia?"

"They need to train to be able to do it, but they learn, by reading people." She continued.

"Like there minds?"

"No like there emotions, there feelings and beliefs. Most of Lady Hestia's descendants can naturally read through peoples lies, and their feelings and just will know. Through honing that they can learn how to read who one's ancestor was." She illustrated for me.

"Why do you refer to Hestia so highly?"

"Lady Hestia." She again corrected.

"Why do you refer to Lady Hestia so highly?" I continued annoyed.

"Well again, you're gonna have to keep reading that book for the full story. However, the gist of it is Lady Hestia was our one true savior after Chronos joined the war." She added in when I questioned and once more everything went silent.

"Alright, I'm going to have to think about all of this." I finally said after a few minutes of silence.

"Of course that's natural but don't take too long. It looks like ya Eevee is dying." She said and I quickly turned to Vortumna who was still weaving between rocks, albeit barely walking instead of running.

"Shit!" I exclaimed and ran over to her, I had completely forgotten to order her to stop running while I was mentally entangled with the conversation. "Sorry about that girl," I said stopping her and stroking her fur lovingly and telling her what a good girl she was. After a few minutes, her labored breathing slowed down to a comfortable pace and she fell asleep in my lap, me smiling down at her.

"Well, you have a lot to take in. I'll meet ya at the center alright?" Katie said and I nodded, now completely lost in thought about what I had just gotten myself into.

* * *

Edited as of /20/09/2019

 **MG**

Nyx: Murkrow, Female, Level Twenty

Vortumna: Eevee, Female, Level Seventeen

 **Katie**

Rex: Houndoom, Male, level Forty-Two

Hector: Growlithe, Male, Level Thirty Four

Gonzales: Sanshrew, Male: Level Thirteen


	12. Nightmare

_And the new three_

 _Would wage war for the championship_

 _Demeter and Artemis would go to Apollo_

 _Hermes and Poseidon would go to Borealis_

 _Gaia would go to Zeus_

 _And for her son_

 _She would create two more for her domain._

 _And thus Hesphaestus and born._

 _But Father and Mother did not like those odds_

 _So They bestowed a child to each of the others._

 _Ares to Poseidon_

 _The greatest warrior ever to live._

 _Dionysus to Apollo_

 _The greatest assassin to ever live._

 _The war came to a stalemate for the next decade_

 _So Father and mother blessed each of them with one more_

 _The trio._

 _Athena went to Apollo._

 _Whom could outsmart father himself_

 _Delphi went to Poseidon._

 _Whom could read the paths of the future_

 _Morpheus went Zeus_

 _Whom`s illusions could trick Athena_

 _And thus the war continued_

 _Bloody and Broken_

 _One Side never got the upper hand_

 _Until a fourth side joined the war_

 _Until Brother Chronos stepped down from the heavens_

* * *

There was too much to take in at once. So I simply sat there in the clearing slowly petting Vortumna and contemplating everything Katie had told me. There was no way it could be real, all real scientific evidence would point towards that being simply impossible. That Arceus never created the world, that people don't have powers or weaknesses in the ways she described. That she was insane and none of it could be real. Yet another part of me, the idealist that was crushed by my own parents desperately wanted to believe that I was special. That I was somehow unique and different from everyone else and would be better because of it.

Not only that but there was evidence in my past experiences to suggest towards it being true. How else would you explain Falkner's interest in me, or why that stranger would give me the book that would point me towards all of this. If what Katie said is true, if I was actually a child of Persephone, then other things were starting to make more sense. Like why that Ekans venom affected me so much, Grass-types were naturally more susceptible to poisons and if that was true then it was lucky I wasn't killed. Not only that but it also explains my extra low tolerance to Alcohol, it essentially being a poison to the body. If all of this was true then it changed everything.

The thoughts and theories just kept swimming through my head. Most gym leaders specialized in a single type. That probably meant that they each were a child of a different god in whatever they specialized and probably the elite four too. So that was something else to research into when selecting who and what to fight them with and adding yet another variable and god did I still fucking hate variables.

These thoughts led me to even more theorycrafting based on what each gym leader or elite was. Falkner was a child of Hermes, a flying child as confirmed by Katie and himself as he said he was also special. Bugsy was an as of now unknown child, Whitney was a child of Hera? At least that was my first thought based on her preferred species which meant she was normal, which was very strange since none of the other gym leaders were like that. Moving onto Morty, he is almost certainly a child of Hades as he trains ghost types and everyone told me to go to him to find out exactly what I am. The next two I haven't read enough of the book to possibly theorycraft what they are, though Pryce is almost certainly a child of Boreas. It's the only thing that would fit a master of the ice type. Claire, I can't tell as I don't yet have an idea on who would be the child of dragons, will have to do more research later.

On to the elite four, Wil is almost certainly a member of what Katie referred to as the trio? The psychic type of children. Again, Koga and Bruno, I have no idea what they could possibly be yet, same with Lance. However the most interesting might be Karen, who is almost certainly a child of Artemis, the dark type god. This led to a lot of conspiracies flowing through my brain. After all, if you were the top level of the government, wouldn't you want someone who could move and sneak around in the shadows? The ultimate spy? Is this how they found out about Bill? How they are able to find criminal organizations and terrorists before they even pop up? Before Bill could ever even find them? Because they had one foot in the darkness themselves? Always watching, always ready to strike? Right then I shuddered and began looking around frantically in paranoia, even though I knew it was just a conspiracy theory forming in my brain, it terrified me anyways.

Finally, after a while, I let Nyx out again and got back to training and reading my book. Only this time I kept an eye on Nyx`s twigs.

After a couple more hours of training, I decided to head back into town as it was getting close to four o'clock and I was beginning to get hungry, at least that was the plan until I got the message.

"ALL TRAINERS NEARBY REPORT TO THE NEAREST RANGER STATION IMMEDIATELY, ASSISTANCE NEEDED AGAINST AN EXPERT LEVEL THREAT, MORE DETAILS WILL BE REVEALED ON ARRIVAL." The message on my pokedex displayed brightly flashing. Well, shit, there goes my plans for the evening, that and I was originally planning on leaving first thing in the morning, and depending on how long this would take that idea was completely gone. Sighing I quickly shot a message to Katie who shot one back to me confirming she was already on her way and I made my way much deeper into the woods where the ranger station lay.

When I got there, there were five people lined up along with five rangers. one of them I was sure was a new trainer as they didn't look older than eleven and were immediately dismissed by the rangers. Two were around Seventeen and were probably at least fifth badgers and would be the primary offense outside the rangers. One was a pokecenter nurse and her Blissey who were probably there for support and the last was Katie. As for the Rangers, they varied in age from my age too there mid-twenties and thirties and had probably been battling for longer than I had been alive

"You, young miss, one badger?" The head ranger asked as he approached me in line and I snapped back out of my thoughts and nodded back.

"Yes, one badge and tournament winner sir," I responded back and he nodded with a little more respect.

"I am giving you the option to leave mam, this is an expert level threat and you and your team could very realistically get hurt." He formally said giving me the choice to leave and I thought it over.

"No thank you, sir, I'd like to stay," I said and he once again nodded

"Alright, then you should know, My name is Abel Stonge, you will follow what I say and what I do, got that?" He asked and I nodded and then he walked in front of the group.

"Alright everyone, the threat today is a Nido-clan, led by a newly evolved Nidoking and it has been seen heading this way." He explained and my brain was once more thrown into action. Wild Nidoking are extremely rare, the fast evolution method only found out within the last one hundred years, it supposedly required the energy from a stone that fell from the moons surface otherwise it could take upwards of fifteen to twenty years for a Nidorino to evolve, five to ten with a trainers help. Humans, of course, have found out how to replicate that energy and create false stones, but supposedly every once in a while one falls down from the surface of the moon and lands on the earth's surface. When that happens and when a Nidorino stumbles upon that stone it becomes a Nidoking. When that happens it leads it's fellow clan members on a warpath to claim more territory for its kingdom, even other non-Nido's will follow a sufficiently powerful Nidoking and eventually one will brush up against human civilization and try and conquer it for itself. Though rare, these wars were often brutal and bloody and deserved the title of an expert level threat.

"The objective is the death or capture of the Nidoking. If this happens the rest of his clan should flee or surrender." He continued and I listened raptly. "We will be splitting you into teams of three to cover the most ground. The teams will be based on each of your own strength, to boost your chances of survival weaker members will be paired with stronger members, the teams shall be as follows.

"Katie Kelaney, Private Drake Abigail and Private Connor Woodworth shall be team alpha." He said and Katie and the two rangers walked to the side to form a group. "Alan Cudworth, Private Jezebel James, and Private James Smith will be group Bravo." And one of the unknown trainers and two of the rangers moved off into a group. "Finally there is uh… MG?" He questioned looking down at me. "MG, Quail Burkaney and myself taking group Charlie." He said and I and the last unknown trainer walked over to him. "Ms. Lisa Allen will be here for support and healing duty." He explained and we all stood in attention in our newfound groups. "The king, is somewhere within a twenty square mile radius of this station if you see it or its clan do not engage but instead first report and wait for backup, do you copy?" He finished.

"Sir yes, sir!" We all replied.

"Then move out," Abel yelled and all three of our groups split off in different directions. "First time?" He asked and I nodded. "Nervous?" He asked and I nodded once more.

"Nidoking are pretty dangerous," I said back as calmly as I could.

"Sure they are, but this one is fresh, maybe two or three weeks evolved and doesn't know most of the attacks that make him dangerous." The ranger explained back.

"Besides it's not like you're gonna be the one fighting it." Seth chimed in and I looked at him questioningly. "A one badger can't take on a Nidoking by themselves and that's not a diss on you either." He added in at my glare.

"Then what am I here for?"

"Damage control." Seth finished. "You may not be able to take on a Nidoking but there's gonna be five to ten Nidorinos and Nidorinas, Double that in Nidorans." He explained and I nodded now starting to get it.

"What about you? You also gonna be on damage control?" I asked.

"Nah, I'm a six badger he said" Chuckling at the look I gave him. "I'll be right there in the middle of the fight, alongside the sergeant here." He said gesturing to the lead ranger.

"Er right." I stammered out causing him to chuckle again. We continued searching for another two hours before sergeant Abels radio began going off.

"Sergeant we've located the clan. Their coordinates are thirty-one east and twenty-four north of the base." The voice echoed out from the machine.

"Roger that, were on our way, hold tight until we get there." He said and put his walkie talkie down. "That's forty-two kilometers from our location, do you two have flier?" He asked turning to us and I shook my head while Quail nodded.

"Alright MG you're with me, Quail you'll fly beside us." He said and we both nodded. Sergeant Abel released a large black and white bird with a red crescent on its head and motioned for me to get on it alongside him. Quail released a massive red dragon with a flame nearly as large as myself spouting out from its tail and I gaped in awe. "Now is not the time for fangirling we need to move out." The Sergeant said and I apologized blushing and got onto the bird with him. We flew for roughly ten minutes before landing down in a clearing where the other two teams rested.

"Alright, huddle up people." The sergeant said dismounting the bird and I slowly followed him as we all met up in a group. "The plan is simple, team beta and Charlie will engage the enemy head-on, white team alpha flanks them from the rear. The objective is the Nidoking, all others try and capture or subdue, no need getting the bureaucrats all up in our ass with paperwork." He explained the last part sending chuckles around the whole group as we split off into our assigned roles.

I followed the Sergeant and Quail alongside the members of team beta to the grotto where the clan was reported resting and silently we all released our pokemon. Our team consisted of a Charizard, Mamoswine, Kingler, Rhydon, Beedrill, Butterfree, Chaney, Murkrow and Eevee. Yeah, I felt a little embarrassed about that last part.

"Hey don't worry, we'll take care of you." The sergeant said looking down at me and giving me a wink.

"Wait! They're not there." One of the rangers in front of us said and we all stopped in our tracks.

"What do you mean they're not the-" The sergeant began but was stopped as a large bipedal armored and horned rodent emerged from the ground and impaled him through the stomach, the toxicity of the horn instantly beginning to melt away the sergeants' insides. "Run!" He coughed out before falling limp and I screamed as all hell broke loose.

From the forests beside us, Nidoran and Nidrorino began emerging and running towards us and then suddenly the adrenaline kicked and I dropped and rolled to the side of where a large horn belonging to a Nidorino has just been.

"Taunt," I screamed at Nyx and he began throwing sticks down at the Nidorino infuriating it and getting it to chase her away. To my left I say the sergeants Staraptor and Rhydon both angrily trying to avenge their trainers' death who was still hanging limply from the Nidokings neck as it pummeled and made the earth tremble below it causing the Rhydon to fall backward. To my right, I saw Quail's Mamoswine gore and impale a Nidorino on one tusk as it froze two Nidorans solid.

I narrowly dodged another horn, this time from a Nidoran and I booted it hard in the side, sending it a few feet but nearly breaking my foot in the process, my mistake for forgetting they were armored even in there infant form. Jumping up and down I quickly ducked as the Beedrill flew over the top of me, horns outstretched and gouged the eye out of a Nidorino leaping to stab me in the back. I quickly chucked a pokeball at it but didn't check to see if the Nidorino was caught or not. I ordered Vortumna forward to tackle a small female Nidoran who was trying to sneak up on one of the other rangers, who nodded there thanks in my direction.

Panicking, I quickly observed my surroundings once more. I saw Nyx nowhere nearby but neither did I see the Nidorino, nor was there any threats directly near me either. I turned back to the Nidoking to see stomp down on the Rhydons face and it go pop below its hoof, Brain matter exploding out the back of its skull. I quickly turned and vomited and collapsed to the ground as a Nidorina tackled me, luckily avoiding me with its horn. I pushed as hard as I could away from my face as its jaws thrashed rapidly down towards my face and throat, trying and slowly failing to keep it at bay. I could feel it's sharp digging and scratching at my body tearing away my clothing and piercing the skin below before it fell limply onto me, a blade protruding from its skull

"What in the bloody fuck just happened." I heard Katie yell as she and the rest of team alpha stood above me and I couldn't help but grin despite being a bloody mess.

"Ambush," I said breathing heavily. "Need help," I said panting some more.

"Sure thing." She said walking over and helping me to my feet. "You're pretty well banged up there." She said looking me over and I just nodded putting my energy into staying upright, When I looked over to the Nidoking, I saw that Quail's Mamoswine had joined the fray and that it and the Staraptor had it on it's back. Most of the clan had run after seeing the leader nearly defeated and only a few stubborn Nidorina and Nidorino remained fighting but were quickly being overtaken by the newcomers.

"Come on, let's go and get ya patched up," Katie said as she slowly dragged me over to where the Nurse and her Chansey were tending to some wounded. I sent a quick glance over to the Nidoking which now lie limp and was being torn into pieces by the Staraptor, the sergeant still hanging from its horn. When my eyes looked back at the unrecognizable pile of flesh that was once the Rhydons face I fell over and vomited again. "Come on almost there," Katie said picking me back up.

When we got to the nurse she looked me over and gave me some strong medicine and painkillers and that made me feel a lot better, luckily the Nidorina didn't hit anything vital and most did surface level damage. I'd have to watch for infections and take it easy but I should be fine. If in a lot of pain by the next morning.

"How'd ya let something like this happen ya, stupid git." Katie chastised me after my check up was done and I was bandaged up.

"Nidorina tackled me, I wasn't strong enough to get it off," I explained as I lay on the ground slowly petting Vortumna, even Nyx hadn't left my side.

"Why didn't ya stab the fucking thing." She asked and I looked at her funny.

"I didn't have a knife on me." I shot back.

"Lesson number six, always carry a fucking knife." She said laughing in my face. "Ya ain't ever know when that extra bit o protection will save your life." She explained

"Yeah, you're right." I nodded shyly. It was a smart idea and I didn't know why I decided to always leave my knife in my bag.

"What was that?" She asked in mock deafness.

"I said you're right." I retorted.

"

"You're damn right I am." She said smiling and giving me a big thumbs up and I began to laugh uncontrollably and soon enough she joined right beside me. Slowly but surely my laughter died down and turned into sobs. Tears began pouring out of my eyes as I began to wail agonizingly and hold Vortumna close to my chest, why did I keep doing this? Why did I keep going out of my way to challenge these threats these beasts? I could have just left, I should have just left, I mean they gave me the option. Instead, I stayed and why? For pride, because I thought I could do something. All I managed to do was just scar myself a little more than before, one more to add to my immense list of trauma going forward and while I sobbed Katie just looked down at me with some mixture of pity and uncomfortableness.

"I'm fine." I choked out wiping a tear from my eye.

"Ya don't look it," Katie responded concern evident in her voice.

"I said I'm fine!" I yelled back and she quickly backed away a couple of feet, leaving me to my sorrow for a while.

"Hey, this is yours?" One of the rangers, the female one. Jezebel said walking over to us holding a pokeball.

"Is it?" I asked and then remembered the Nidorino I had thrown a pokeball at. "Yeah, it's mine," I said and she handed it to me. After registering it to my team I saw it was in pretty critical condition and knew that I would have to bring it to a center immediately.

"Why was that thing so strong if it just evolved," Katie asked.

"Ahh, were beginning to believe that wasn't particularly true," Jezebel said nervously.

"No shit." Katie exclaimed and even that wasn't enough to perk me up."How did ya guys miss something like a Nidoking for so long." She continued onwards.

"We believe it's not native to here. That it was most likely a trained Nidoking, probably evolved two, three years ago. But either the trainer couldn't control it or he died and it left into the wilds. At least that's our leading theory right now." She explained and both Katie and I silently nodded.

* * *

After that, we were dismissed from our duty and both made our way back into town and I checked the Nidorino into the pokemon center, No words were spoken, no banter made, nothing until we got to our room.

"Thanks," I muttered as we slowly got ready for bed.

"For what?" Katie asked back, the tiredness evident in her voice.

"For caring about me," I replied and she laughed.

"Of course I care about ya, you're my mate." She said laughing a little harder. "What?" She asked after I didn't reply for a few moments.

"Why?" I questioned back concerned.

"What da ya mean why?" She countered.

"Why me?" I questioned back. My voice beginning to crack once more.

"What da ya mean why you?" She asked back again this time irritated.

"Why would you be friends with me!?" I yelled back and we collapsed into silence again for a few more minutes.

"Why the bloody fuck is anyone friends with anyone." She finally responded back. "You're a cute kid, ya clearly know your shit, ya were somehow willing to put up with me, and you're fun to fuck with. There are lots of reasons to be your friend." She explained and I slowly choked back another sob. "Ya act like ya ain't never had a friend before." She finished.

"I haven't." I retorted.

"Oh." She replied and the room fell silent. This was it the moment she was gonna finally leave me, as much as I complained about her, that's the last thing I wanted to happen. "Well fuck, now I can't leave ya in Azalea." She finally said throwing her hands up in the air in exasperation.

"What?" I asked nervously.

"I said I can't fuckin leave ya anymore." She repeated.

"You were gonna leave?" I asked my voice cracking again.

"Of course I was gonna leave eventually. I got a journey to finish too ya know?" She explained and I nodded. "Bug gym? Piece of cake for an Apollo. I was gonna leave after."

"Ohhh…." I said and I again felt that hollow emptiness consumes my heart once more.

"Do your ears bloody work. I said I'm not gonna leave ya." She said and those words sank into me and I suddenly began to grin wildly despite my heart still aching from earlier today.

"You're not?" I asked eagerly my eyes full of wonder.

"No and don't give me that look or I'll feed ya to Rex." She said and I giggled lightly my emotions bubbling forth.

"Why not?"

"Because clearly, you're not the big tough bitch I thought you were." She explained and I shot her a glare causing her to chuckle loudly. "I mean what kinda friend would leave someone whom they`re the only friend they have, I'd have to be the biggest cunt in the world." She said and we both burst into laughter. "Now I dunno about you, but I'm fuckin tired." She said and I nodded and we both said our goodbyes. That night the nightmares came back, of the Onix eating Pan, of Nyx dropping the Cacnea, of The Nidoking impaling the Sergeant, of The Nidorina tearing away my flesh and this time succeeding in finishing me off. However, not all was bad as amidst all those horrid dreams there was one happy one, of me and Katie together standing at an altar.

* * *

Hey, guys thanks for reading once again, did not have authors note before but as those of you who read the chapter before may notice. I completely changed the ending altogether, inspired by my own dislike of it and some excellent constructive criticism, hopefully, you all can enjoy this version of the chapter just a little bit more as I certainly know I do.

Until Next Time - Pious Mage.

 **MG**

Nyx: Murkrow, Female, Level Twenty-one

Vortumna: Eevee, Female, Level Nineteen.

 **Katie**

Rex: Houndoom, Male, level Forty-Two

Hector: Growlithe, Male, Level Thirty Four

Gonzales: Sanshrew, Male: Level Twelve


	13. Kumbaya

_And the new three_

 _Would wage war for the championship_

 _Demeter and Artemis would go to Apollo_

 _Hermes and Poseidon would go to Borealis_

 _Gaia would go to Zeus_

 _And for her son_

 _She would create two more for her domain._

 _And thus Hesphaestus and born._

 _But Father and Mother did not like those odds_

 _So They bestowed a child to each of the others._

 _Ares to Poseidon_

 _The greatest warrior ever to live._

 _Dionysus to Apollo_

 _The greatest assassin to ever live._

 _The war came to a stalemate for the next decade_

 _So Father and mother blessed each of them with one more_

 _The trio._

 _Athena went to Apollo._

 _Whom could outsmart father himself_

 _Delphi went to Poseidon._

 _Whom could read the paths of the future_

 _Morpheus went Zeus_

 _Whom`s illusions could trick Athena_

 _And thus the war continued_

 _Bloody and Broken_

 _One Side never got the upper hand_

* * *

I woke up groggily around five Am and heavily blushing. I knew Katie wouldn't be up for another few hours so I quietly completed my morning tasks doing my best not to wake her. When I had finished washing up and getting packed up for the day I made my way to the lobby of the pokecenter and checked in on the Nidorino. I wasn't sure if I wanted to train after all that happened the day before and also the fact that it was a relatively common pokemon to come across, however even I had to admit that Nidoking had amazing type synergy with my team as Nyx covered two of its weaknesses and it covered one of hers and of course how strong that Nidoking was still echoed in my brain. I decided that I'd see how it reacted and then make a decision based off of that.

However, the Nurse informed me that the Nidorino wouldn't fully recover for at least three more days and this made me extremely frustrated. The fact of the matter is, it had already been twenty-two weeks since I had left on my journey and in three more days it'd pass the twenty-three mark which meant it had been one-hundred-sixty-one days since I left and Cherrygrove, twenty and a half weeks since I left Violet city and I was originally supposed to complete one gym leader every seventeen and a half weeks. Not to mention I was still another week's travel to Azalea, which now meant twenty-one and a half weeks since leaving violet. Which meant I was nearly five weeks past my original plan of a gym leader every seventeen and a half weeks. So even if I saved some time by challenging Violet early, if I kept at this pace and that the Ilex forest trek would be even longer than that of the Union Cave, it meant that I'd be at around four-six to forty-eight weeks since leaving Cherrygrove, not accounting for the Azalea gym battle of course. Which means I'd only have a spare six to eight weeks of time. It was about time to start panicking and I was really starting to regret taking this challenge and was only glad about it because it gave me Vortumna.

Pushing those thoughts aside for the moment, I thanked the nurse and left to go find some food. I found a small diner around the corner from where a museum dedicated to the battles held in this land lay. There I sat down and began to brainstorm ideas to cut the time down, I obviously would need to challenge Bugsy near my immediate entrance of the city either my first or second day. Which would give me a week to train my team, hopefully, the egg would hatch by then leaving me with Nyx and whatever it hatched into strong against Bugsy, if I was able to train it up fast enough I could hopefully win pretty easy, only really having to avoid his Scyther. With those thoughts cleared up, I tried to think of something else but when my thoughts began delving into what happened the day before mixed with the Onix and the Cacnea, I quickly focused my brain back onto the battle theory and with that, I wanted to try and get some things done so I quickly paid my bill and made my way out of town and into the wilds.

When I arrived I let out Votumna and Nyx who both immediately checked up on me, yes even surprisingly Nyx. With a smile on my face, I squatted down and stroked both of there heads though Nyx quickly jumped away with an attitude. even now she couldn't let it be known she cared and that put a smile to my face. I noticed that Vortumnas fur had begun to get even paler and that put a smile on my face, maybe she'd be evolved in time to help with the next gym, though both the evolutions I expected her to become wouldn't help with a bug gym. Not only that but I also noticed a very slight reddening in Nyxs wings which possibly meant that within the next half a year to a year she could possibly evolve too, which also excited me greatly.

I immediately set Vortumna to work running drills, I wanted to get her stamina and agility up as that would be important to all her evolutions. While I meanwhile began to work personally with Nyx, I was trying to get her to learn how to rotate her beaks like a drill, a normally severely advanced technique but with enough determination and the help of technology it was a possibility and would be a key to defeating Bugsy early. So I lured Nyx in with the promise of food and began showing her videos of Honchkrow that learned the technique and began trying to get her to follow there example. However, she just kept twisting her head back and forth and squawking angrily and when I laughed she flew away with a huff and began dropping twigs on me. We would try this again later and so I sent her to do drills while I read the last few chapters of the book of gods.

After a few hours of this, I received a message from Katie and I recalled both of them and head into town to meet her for lunch. We ate at the same pub we found out the news about the champion of Bill and Katie even got me to agree to have a drink, though one was enough to make me begin to feel a bit woozy.

"What'd ya get up ta today," Katie asked biting into a big juicy hamburger.

"Mostly trained, I'm a bit behind," I explained while nibbling on a few fries.

"What do ya mean behind?" She half inquired half spat with her mouth full.

"I'm supposed to defeat three of the gyms in under a year," I explained and Katie swallowed and gawked

"Why would ya fuckin do that?" She yelled back and I had to shh her while everyone in the pub looked at us.

"They gave me Vortumna because of it, and my dex," I explained.

"Still a twit move," she sighed. "Three bloody gyms in a year, what are ya fucking Red?" She said and I shrugged.

"They thought I could do it based on my test scores," I said meekly.

"What were your test scores?" She quizzed me curiosity calming her down.

"Ninety-seven percent," I replied and she once again went wide-eyed.

"Well shit, that is impressive, but tests don't matter for shit half the time." She explained and I once again scoffed at her blatant dismissal of tests.

"What's that lad's name? Goldberg?" She asked and I nodded. "He scored fifty-six, and he was the champion." She shot back.

"Yeah, and he also completed three gyms in a year," I explained and she shook her head.

"Do ya really think you're as good as him?" She asked back.

"No idea, but it's best to try isn't it." I finished and we both went silent.

"Well shit, why are we still bloody here?" She asked finally breaking the silence.

"My Nidorino needs a couple of days to heal." I disclosed.

"Ya mean you're keeping it." She challenged and I nodded.

"It synergizes well with my team." I justified.

"Fair enough." She agreed. Then we moved onto much lighter topics, before retiring back to our rooms for some quick rest before heading out to train some more.

The next couple of days proceeded pretty much the same way, I'd wake up early, do some training, Me and Katie would get some food, get some rest and then head out to train together. The best thing that happened was I finished my book on the third day of training and Katie was ecstatic because it meant she could start teaching me all about the different children of the gods.

* * *

Finally, the day came when we could leave the city and I even got Katie to wake up at the same time I normally did. This time we were taking the road, no detours, nothing. We were gonna get there as fast as we possibly could. Once we reached city limits we let out our pokemon and we made sure to have all of our pokemon out before the Nidorino came out and finally it came time to release it. When I did it immediately attempted to tackle the weakest member of the group, myself. But, Rex and Hector had it pinned down and on it's back in seconds.

"Hi, I'm your new leader," I said crouching down next to its prone form. It snarled and gnashed at me as I gave it a look over. Hmmm, it appeared to be of a decent age, maybe three or four years old. This was good because even if I couldn't find a moonstone, I could maybe have him evolved in two if not three years. He had strong muscular legs and when I knocked against him armored body it seemed sturdy enough. However, what caught my attention the most was the long jagged scar that went across where it's left eye used to be, a memento has taken from that rangers Beedrill, luckily he would evolve into a ground type which doesn't have the most need for eyesight when they could sense things via seismic activity.

"Your king is dead," I told it and it continued to snap and snarl at me. So with a frustrated sigh, I booted it, in it's missing eye and it let out a howl of pain so harsh that it caused both me and Katie to flinch backward. "Did you like that?" I asked it and it snapped at me again. "Will you obey me?" I asked it and it spat a small glob of poison at me that I was just barely able to avoid so I booted it in the eye again and this time it quieted down. "Alright we're gonna let you go but only if you listen to me," I stated slowly and took its silence as agreement. It immediately tried to jump me and Rex and Hector subdued it once more while it got another kick to the eye. This repeated three more times before it finally stopped trying to attack us and I quickly administered a potion to it.

"Weird that it doesn't like ya, normally poisons love Demeters." Katie chimed in,

"Huh, really?" I asked curiosity getting the better of me.

"Oh yea, there's loads of poisonous plants, and it's one of the most common forms of symbiosis." She lectured and I nodded along.

"Probably just some alpha, pack leader shit." I guessed and she shrugged. From then on things were sailing a lot more smoothly, the Nidorino didn't try and attack again while we walked towards our destination, though that might have had to do with the two fire type canines keeping a wary eye on it. I decided to name him Atlas after an ancient king of the same name, who according to Katie was a son of Gaia and was so strong he could manipulate the earth to beat the sky, it seemed fitting. The rest of the day really proceeded like all of our days in the cave, the only difference was the nice warm summer air. Nothing else of excitement really happened besides encountering the occasional Furret or Raticate which fled most of the time. It was only when night approached that things started becoming interesting.

We set up camp in a clearing just like usual, gathering logs and sticks and Hector would light them. After cooking up a couple of nice big juicy Furret that we had encountered earlier in the day and having to stop Nyx from flying away with it. We sat around the campfire and ate.

"New game," Katie stated blankly as she bit deep into the Furret and I scowled, she always had the worst ideas for games.

"What is it this time," I muttered.

"Relax sourpuss." She said laughing which caused me to scowl even harder. "We're gonna play the truth game." She interjected and I again just looked at her quizzically. "It's simple, we just take turns asking each other questions, and ya have ta answer the truth, ya can only end the game after you've answered." She explained and I had to admit it sounded intriguing.

"Alright, I'm in." I sighed knowing I didn't really have much of a choice in it anyways.

"Alright, cool!" She exclaimed loudly and I could only shake my head.

"Why didn't you have any friends?" She asked and I immediately went red.

"Kinda harsh to start out with isn't it?" I said.

"That's the game." She said laughing it off and I already regretted agreeing to this game.

"I grew up in a poor part of town, my parents were abusive and neglectful and didn't care what I did. So I never went to school and never gotta meet people my age ya know?" I explained.

"What did you do instead?" She asked afterward.

"Bup bup bup," I said."It's my question." I corrected.

"Now you're getting it." She said and we both let out a small chuckle.

"What happened to your old team?" I asked and she went deathly still.

"Wow, wasn't expecting that." She said brushing it off.

"Ask hard questions, get hard questions," I said and she nodded showing me how serious it was that she didn't even make a joke.

"They died because I did something reckless." She finally said and I scowled knowing that was technically an answer. "Alright, what did you do instead?" She continued off of her last question, which I expected.

"I studied pokemon." I said and at the glare, she shot me I decided to continue. "I always liked watching trainers on TV, Size, battle prowess, protecting people, it was always just so interesting to me, even as a little girl and well... Here I am now." I lectured and the camp went silent once more outside the sound of eating.

"What'd you do?" I asked and she again glared at me.

"Fine." She sighed relenting but first reaching into her beg and procuring a large bottle of alcohol. "I told ya I would only tell ya this after a few string drinks didn't I?" she asked and I nodded. "Well, all children have an opposing type to there own. Chronos and Hestia, Zeus and Gaia and of course Apollo and Poseidon."

"Fire and Water."

"Precisely." She said before continuing onwards. "Now I don't know if you know this but Hoenn has a wee bit of a gang problem, like your Team Rocket." She lectured and I nodded along. "Well, one of these teams is Magma, standing for Fire and Earth and composed mostly of Apollo's and Gaia's and the other is Team Aqua, composed mostly of just Poseidon."

"I thought May Maple and Brendan Birch took care of those two though," I asked remembering something that happened much before I was born.

"Just like you're Rocket, they somehow continue to survive." She declared. "Well crime pays well in Hoenn and I didn't know what I was doing in life, plus I had some familial problem. So I joined up with Magma, with my peers." She groaned smiling sadly. "I did odd jobs here or there, smuggled drugs, delivered drugs, did drugs... A lot of things involving drugs. I never really fought much though even if I trained for it constantly." She regretfully mumbled out. "At least until the day it happened. Ya see I haven't been totally honest with ya, I started my journey at ten but I choose to completely disregard those two years I was in the gang, and just say I've been traveling for two years instead. Well, there was this big stink, some terrorist threat in Orre stealing pokemon from travelers or something." She stopped to take another swig. "While everybody was stuck on that, Aqua and Magma decided to settle some debts Magma got destroyed, it wasn't even close. Kizno was eaten by a Sharpedo, Samwell was frozen and shattered on the ground and not even Ole Johnny was safe, Ground and Fire-type, his lungs couldn't take the amount of water poured into them and he drowned in front of me. Only Rex lived." She finished taking another long swig, now almost done a third of the bottle. "After that, I bought Gonzales with my drug money, snuck outta Hoenn and came here where I caught Hector." She resolved and for the third time that night we collapsed into silence.

"Alright, what's your goal?" She asked finally and I contemplated it for a moment.

"To be the best?" I finally stated after some time.

"Why?" She inquired.

"My question."

"Bullshit, you saw what I just had to explain." She yelled back.

"Fine," I relented and began to think about it. "I'm not sure." I finally relinquished after a few minutes of thinking. "Maybe because it'll make me happy?" I guessed.

"Happiness huh?" She asked and I nodded. "Shit, ya ain't gonna get that on top." She continued and I looked at her hurt.

"Why not?"

"Because just happiness doesn't exist, at least not the way you're hoping for." She lectured and I again was hurt by her words. "Nobody ever just feels happy all the time, that ain't normal and you'd have ta be a fucking psychopath to be like that, instead fleeting memories, hopes, dreams, and feeling will pass through ya at all times of the day, one of those is happiness."

"And if I don't feel anything? If I just feel empty all the time?" I asked nervousness creeping into my voice.

"Well, then you need a bloody therapist." She exclaimed and I shrugged.

"Meh, I'll pass," I said and we descended into silence once more, the only sound being Katie sniffling.

"Look at us, ain't we a right happy bunch." She joked and we both laughed lowering the tension a bit further.

"We should probably get some sleep, we got an early morning tomorrow," I interjected our laughter.

"Ya mean I gotta fuckin wake up that early again!?" She screamed loudly.

"We got a pace to keep." I laughed.

"Fucking torture," She sighed but relented anyway. I recalled the Nidorino not trusting him to not attack us in the night and snuggled up next to Vortumna.

"Do you like girls?" I finally asked scared shitless before we fell asleep.

"I like everyone." She replied.

"No I mean, do you like girls." I said putting extra emphasis on the word like.

"Like I said I like everyone; Why?" She asked.

"No reason?" I said quickly but I couldn't help as a giant smile grew over my face,

* * *

I awoke early the next morning and woke a slightly hungover and not too happy Katie and nearly had to drag her for the first five minutes of clean up. However, after some much-needed food and the threat of dousing her with water, we set off on our way. Along the way, I asked her to teach me about the different children of god and she happily agreed as it was something she was somewhat passionate about.

She started with the original child after she finished explaining all that we had lunch and I began working on my relationship with Atlas. Who was no longer trying to gore me every chance he got but the armored rodent also didn't wanna listen to me much either. However, with some extra encouragement form Rex and Hector I was able to get it running a few basic drills. I also had Nyx and Vortumna spar and the matchup was a lot more even than the last time they fought with Vorumna only just losing due to Nyx's extra agility through flight. However, Katie got mad at me when I sat there watching my pokemon do drills.

"Why the bloody hell are ya just sitting there?" She yelled at me and I looked back at her inquisitively. "You were fuckin useless during that Ranger assignment as ya couldn't run nor could ya fight." She lectured.

"Wow," I said shocked and hurt. "I'm supposed to stay back and guide my team." I retorted back to her.

"And what about when your team isn't near, like with that Nidorina? Ya just gonna up and let yourself die?" She replied and I had no real answer. "Yeah, that's what I thought." She finished.

"Well, what should I do then?" I questioned.

"Well first off ya can run drills alongside your team. Get faster, you can run away and live longer, I mean sure ya will never outrun a Ursaring or Scyther but who knows ya might be able to get away from a Krookodile or Tangrowth now." She explained and I nodded along. "Second off I can teach ya how to defend yourself, at least on a basic level. I was in a gang after all." She continued her voice dropping off in the last part.

"Alright, but we'll start tomorrow, we need to move on now anyway," I said and she agreed as we still had a long way to go. We continued onwards towards Azalea town and that night when we rested we didn't talk much, we were both tired from the day's journey, Katie was still a little hungover and our mood still hadn't completely returned to normal from the last nights' discussion.

When we awoke the next day our schedule was changed. We woke and cleaned up like normal, when lunchtime came we dedicated two hours to training, one hour I spent running drills alongside my team, and Katie hers. It seemed Atlas began to respect me a bit more now that I was working with it rather than just controlling it and even began learning the basic commands of my Harmonica. The next hour was spent learning how to fight from Katie, who taught me some positioning and hand to hand combat and proceeded to drop me onto the hard ground in less than a minute every single time we sparred. After tending to my wounds and my ego we set off again until nightfall, where she would teach me about the next child of the gods. The next day also proceeded the same way, except I was a lot sorer and I lost to Katie even faster.

It wasn't until day five that something changed. We were traveling after just finishing up our training when I heard a loud erratic beeping coming from within my backpack and I quickly stopped our traveling group. and removed the incubator from my bag excitedly. Because of that we stopped and set up camp early for the day and sat around waiting for the egg to fully hatch. After two or three hours we saw the first cracks begin to form on the egg, and a small beak began to peek through, confirming it wasn't a lizard. Slowly a small and wet matted head of feathers poked out and two minuscule arms began pushing itself out of its egg coating. Followed by a yellow stomach and two short but clawed feet and I smiled warmly to myself as I made sure to be the first thing it saw so it would imprint on me.

"What is it?" I heard Katie ask curiously behind me but I was to awed by process of life forming in front of me to properly respond. Instead, I just sat there and smiled at the baby, it had been a very rough few weeks plagued endlessly by nightmares but this right here was finally some good. Something happy and bright like the sun and I knew instantly what I wanted to name him.

"Katie, meet Amaterasu the Magby," I said smiling brightly down at the little girl and when I looked up I saw Katie was also smiling brightly too and with a little whining chirp I knew the girl was hungry and though Nyx was angry, I snuck her a bit of Nyx's food and just like that I was in love.

"Why Amaterasu?" She questioned curiously smiling down at the little girl.

"She's supposedly the Alolan sun god, I guess there version of Apollo. A kind and goddess who brings great harvests and love to the islands." I explained offhandedly as my full attention was taken up by the baby before me.

"Cool." Katie replied and then we stopped talking.

Nothing else of much excitement happened on the journey to Azalea. We kept at the same pace we were going and made it to the edge of the town just before nightfall of the seventh day. I carried Amaterasu the entire time as she was too young and weak to walk on her own as of yet. Vortumna, unsurprisingly took to loving her little sister immediately and constantly danced and jumped up at her and play with her, and at night didn't let her go uncuddled even if it meant abandoning cuddling me. To my own surprise, Atlas also seemed to really like her and constantly threatened anything and anyone that came to close outside of my team and even got into some trouble with Rex and Hector when he stood off against Katie when she got to close. The only one who didn't love her straight away was Nyx, who acted cold, uncaring and like she was too big for a brat like Ami. However, I caught her sneaking the little fire type some portions of her food when she thought I wasn't looking and I knew she loved her just like everyone else.

* * *

The first thing I did when we arrived in Azalea was go straight to the gym even before the pokecenter and I immediately registered for a battle a week from the current day, then I went to the pokecenter and ignored Katie's pleas to go out and have fun and immediately delved into my research for the next gym. I downloaded as many current videos as I could from the last week and also downloaded Gold's battle against the gym leader too.

Bugsy was a very interesting man. He belonged to no familial dynasty unlike the likes of Clair, Lance, Falkner, Morty and so on. He earned his gym leader spot entirely on his own merit, finishing collecting all eight badges at the age of sixteen, instead of taking on the league he instead applied for and was accepted into an apprenticeship with the old Azalean town gym leader, who was also a master of bug types. Through hard work and dedication, he worked his way to the top of the old gym leaders disciples and twenty-four years ago the old gym leader retired and passed it on to Bugsy. After watching a few of his matches I was beginning to form a good idea of is battling style. He was very fast-paced and aggressive abusing bug types naturally high speed and early power in the combination of moves like U-turn, Aerial Ace, X Scissor, he pivoted and shifted the momentum in his favor whenever he could and he fought to end it early.

At a second badge level, it was fought as a three on three battle and judging by the other second-level battles, Bugsy brought some serious firepower. His team usually consisting of any combination of a Butterfree, Beedrill, Parasect, Volbeat, Illumise, Heracross and of course his signature Scyther which he rarely ever went without. After looking at what he used I began to theorycraft and make certain ideas. The Magby was out, he was way too young to walk let alone fight. Vortumna would not be the best against the powerful fully evolved bug types, meaning it would mostly come down to Nyx and Atlas and then it clicked. I then went to the local Pokemart and checked out the prices of TMs and after grimacing I left. I sold the few bug types that I had managed to cath along the way and made a couple of thousand bucks and then I went back to the room to watch and research more videos.

"Hey, Katie…?" I asked in a long drawn out high pitched voice as I entered the room.

"What do you want?" She sighed and I knew I'd have to jump right into it.

"Any chance you could lend me some money?" I asked nervously.

"How much?" She asked back resigned.

"Five thousand." I chuckled squirming.

"What!" She yelled jumping up. Five thousand are ya fucking kiddin me?" She asked and I shook my head.

"What do ya need bloody five thousand dollars for?" She asked voice still filled with shock.

"A TM," I said and noticing her face I begged. 'Please, I'll do anything."

"Anything?" She asked mischievously and I already knew I was gonna regret this.

"Anything."

"Fine were going out the night ya win."

"But we will need to get going the next morning." I protested.

"You said anything."

"Fine." I sighed, just transfer the money over alright?"

"Sure thing." She agreed and with that, I quickly ran away to make my purchase. The rest of the week, I spent training, I was able to successfully teach the Nidorino the TM and Nyx the drill peck maneuver and with that one week after arriving I stood outside the gym nervous but full of confidence, ready to win.

* * *

Edited as of 22/09/2019

Hey everyone and thanks again for reading and reviewing, It really does mean a lot. Speaking of which this is one of the biggest chapters of my entire life, why? Because I hit 50,000 words on this chapter, that means that this can now technically and officially be called a novel! Fuck yeah! I never thought I'd ever actually make it this far but this just proves that I am completely capable of writing an entire novel. So cheers to you all for the support and cheers to everything.

Until Next Time -Pious_Mage.

 **MG**

Nyx: Murkrow, Female, Level Twenty-four

Vortumna: Eevee, Female, Level twenty-one

 **Katie**

Rex: Houndoom, Male, level Forty-Two

Hector: Growlithe, Male, Level Thirty-five

Gonzales: Sanshrew, Male: Level sixteen


	14. Rolling Stones

_Until a fourth side joined the war_

 _Until Brother Chronos stepped down from the heavens_

 _And Brother Chronos_

 _Firstborn of Arceus and Hera_

 _King of the gods_

 _Went to war_

 _With the swipe of his hand_

 _He created Tithonius_

 _Who alongside Brother Hades_

 _Could defeat the trio_

 _So the four factions went to war_

 _And slowly Chronos began to win_

 _Yet the land and its people_

 _And it's pokemon_

 _All suffered_

 _And we're slowly being destroyed_

 _Until one tiny voice shouted out_

 _Stop!_

 _It was little Hestia_

 _Smallest of the gods_

 _Who screamed stop._

 _Yet no one did._

 _So she screamed louder._

 _And no one stopped_

 _She begged and pleaded_

 _For an end to the destruction and death_

 _Yet no one stopped_

 _So she turned to Mother and Father_

 _And They turned away_

 _They would not interfere._

 _No matter how much there littlest child begged and screamed_

 _So she made a decision_

 _And descended from the heavens_

 _Alone and surrounded_

 _And She began to sing_

 _Oh to the children_

 _Who never will meet there Ma._

 _Oh to the warriors_

 _Who's lovers await afar._

 _You battle_

 _And fight_

 _And settle_

 _With might_

 _And I ask where does it stop._

 _For what does it matter_

 _Who rules the land_

 _When all you rule is skulls_

 _Oh to the children_

 _Who will never meet there pa_

 _Oh to the widows_

 _Who wait from there man to return_

 _And as she finished her song_

 _She disappeared_

 _In a flash of light_

 _Never to return_

 _And all the injured_

 _Were healed_

 _All the dead_

 _Returned to life._

 _All the gods_

 _Mourned_

 _For there, littlest sister was gone_

 _They threw down there weapons_

 _And ended there fight_

 _And watched in awe_

 _As a child was born_

 _The same as there sister_

 _But a mortal_

 _And the gods realized_

 _That the world was better off_

 _Without any of them_

 _So with goodbyes to there parents._

 _And their partners._

 _They used their powers_

 _To fix their realms_

 _And descend into the realm of the mortals_

 _And were reincarnated_

 _As the children of the gods._

* * *

When my alarm woke me the next morning around I felt very sick and tired and looking at the clock as it struck eight-o-three AM I realized I had gotten less than five hours of sleep the night before. Something I would have to remedy for my health in the future. Still, I willed myself out of bed and took a shower, then put on some of my nicest clothes a simple dress shirt and jeans as I hated dresses and wanted to look good when I had my battle. Then I woke up Katie, now used to dodging her usual morning kicks and attempts to fight back at me. Together we made our way downstairs and grabbed some breakfast, I barely managed to choke down an omelet knowing I had to make myself eat or I'd be feeling even worse than I already was and then I made my way upstairs where I began reviewing and going over my battle plan again.

"Are ya gonna tell me what ya borrowed five thousand dollars for yet?" Katie said as she strolled into the room.

"Nah I'd rather it be a surprise" I responded half interested and instead still focusing on my plan, touching it up and trying to make it as best as I could.

"Fine be that way, just know after ya win you're paying for the first round," Katie replied to me

"Ya Ya, now she." I waved dismissively.

When a couple of hours passed and it approached ten o'clock I made my way my to the gym. My battle was scheduled for eleven and I wanted to make sure I was there early enough to spectate at least a couple battles before my own.

* * *

When I arrived I only noticed two other people waiting to compete. I guessed that most of the people who challenged Bugsy for their first badge were already long gone and most of the people who would challenge him didn't feel comfortable enough to battle him. I mean I felt crazy trying to battle him with just seven months of experience myself and Bugsy is notoriously a difficult leader, I estimated that these two were probably at least fourth or fifth badgers.

I was right about one of them, a fourth badger by the name of Dale Abignail, he supposedly had a four to three win-loss ratio against gym leaders two of which coming from Whitney and I was excited as this would be my first time seeing such a higher tier battle.

However, to my disappointment, Dale lost very quickly. Bugsy starting with a Scizor and Dale starting with an Umbreon, Bugsy with a matter of a few clicking noises pivoted around Dale's entire team with a combination of U-turns between his Scizor and a Beedrill and then finished them off with a Heracross sweep. It was quite brutal to watch.

The next battle, however, was something much more interesting. The second trainer was a Kantoan man by the name of George Alexander Worton who had an eight to three win-loss ratio against gym leaders. What was truly impressive beyond the man having all eight badges is that he was challenging Bugsy's real team for a chance to train under him. This meant that he would become a gym trainer, someone all challengers would have to face before Bugsy after they had collected their third badge. Now no one ever suspects someone to win a challenge against a gym leaders team but if he impressed the gym leader that would often be enough for the gym leader to take him underneath his wing and since these battles happened so rarely, this was gonna be a rare treat to watch.

The battle started with a bang, as Bugsy released a Scizor, It's red clear gleaming and it' strong and sharp pundits opening and closing with enough power to crush a Graveller beneath it. George released a large red and brown bird coated in fire, A Talonflame a pokemon naturally found in the Kalos region except for certain times of the year when there resting from migration.

Immediately Bugsy recalled the Scizor and replaced it with a Shuckle, a small rock covered bug with an impenetrable shell covering it's back. George called for a U-turn and his Talonflame was quickly replaced with a Blastoise his starter pokemon. Bugsy made some clicking noises and the Shuckle began coating the arena in long white sticky web strands that slowed the Blastoise down anywhere it tried to move.

"Surf" George called out and Shuckle and the arena was drowned in a large wave of water, surprisingly the webs still clung to the ground unable to be removed by the water, Bugsy recalled his Ko'd Shuckle and replaced it with a Parasect.

George switched his Blastoise back for his Talonflame but Bugsy let out some loud clicking noises again and the Parasect shot out some spores that put the Talonflame to sleep. Cursing George replaced his Talonflame with a Walrein.

"Blizzard," George yelled out and the Walrein followed his command but hesitated as he tried to power through the sticky webs on the ground which allowed the Parassct to dodge out of the way and with some clicking noises, the Parasects claws were sharpened drastically and being so heavily slowed down by the webs, The Walrein was unable to move in time before the Parasect slashed upon a large gash in its stomach and George recalled it before it bled out, thus knocking out the first of his pokemon. Replacing it George sent out a long black snake with a golden Crest over it' eyes and large purple streaks throughout its body, a Seviper.

The Seviper and Parasect began a long and strenuous dance around each other, Parasect's attacks being ineffective against the snake and the Seviper being cautious of the fungal hermit crabs sharpened claws. Then it all happened so quick, the snake lunged and bit down upon the crab's shell from behind unable to crack it when the Parasect turned around and with one quick snap of its claws the Sevipers head rolled on the ground.

There was silence for a few moments in which George ensured that he wanted to continue his battle but from then on it went downhill as the Parasect swept through his Blastoise, Talonflame and the last member of his team a Cherum which held really no chance of victory and Dale left the stadium with Bugsy saying he would consider him.

All the while I ran and vomited in the nearest bathroom as I was scared that I was gonna have to fight the person behind that and began a spiral of anxiety, depression, and self-deprecation that nearly ended with me forfeiting my challenge before I realized what I was doing. So when my name was called and with a nervous bounce in my step, I walked out into the stadium.

* * *

"Helllllllllloooooooooooooo evvvvvverrrrybodyyyyy!" The Announcer's voice played out to the entire stadium which I noticed had noticeably fewer people in it from the Elites challenge, a fact that made me a little less nervous."Today we have a very special battle for you. She outflew Falkner, She outslew the competition in Marigold, everybody, give it up for the one, the only MG!" He yelled out and a surprisingly larger amount of people cheered for me then I expected.

"Wooo! Suck it ya cunts that's me fucking friend up there." I heard Katie yell above the rest of the crowd and I had to cover myself in embarrassment, clearly, she had gotten an early start on our drinking for the day.

"Annnnnd on the other side." The announcer began and the stadium minus Katie silenced down. "We have the lord of the hivemind himself, Buggggsssssyyyy!" He announced and this time the whole stadium exploded in noise… well again except for Katie. "This will be a three on three match, each pokemon will get three switches, any more and the pokemon will be considered defeated and there shall be no more then three-item uses on either side." He explained the rules to the crowd. "Challenger are you ready?" He asked and I nodded. "Leader are you ready?" He asked and Bugsy nodded. "Begin!" The announcer yelled out.

With two bright flashes the battle began and I smirked as Atlas and Bugsy's Scyther appeared and Bugsy clicked and the Scyther used a U-turn attack quickly hitting Nidorino and returning to his pokeball and since it was technically an attack it didn't count towards the switch count for his Scyther and he replaced it with a Butterfree which most likely new a psychic type move. Still, This was the best possible scenario I could have hoped for. So with a loud blast of a D and a C note together harmonica the Nidorino released the TM I had taught it specifically for this battle. It released the move Stealth Rock. A move up until recently was thought unusable by Nidorino but my research dex showed experiments proving Nidorino could use the move. I knew the damn thing was worth the year challenge.

Stealth Rock is a very very interesting move, developed in Sinnoh roughly Twenty four years ago, just as Ethan Goldberg was starting his journey by an up and coming Gym trainer by the name of Roark who was the son of another gym trainer. With this move, Roark was deemed strong enough to take over a gym in the Sinnoh region and after creating a TM for it he completely changed the entire landscape of pokemon battles.

Ya see Stealth Rock is a move in which the users sets up a series of large stones harnessed by the energy that lots of ground and rock type pokemon have. These stones are linked to the magnetic energy based around pokeballs and when a pokemon is switched in, a stone is sent flying into where it was released, damaging the pokemon heavily. The reason this caused such a drastic shift in how high-level pokemon battles were fought is because it's a rock type move and as such it was able to severely damage any pokemon weak to the rock type just on them switching in. Thus a lot of the highest level threats of the old days like Charizard who was double weak to rock were crippled on a simple switch in and the bug type just happens to be weak to the rock type, Scyther and Butterfree doubly so. This meant he could no longer abuse Bug types best strategies of hit and run with U-turn lest his bug types be quickly struck down, and that if he switched now two of his pokemon would be severely damaged on a switch in. I had full control of the battle and I loved it.

Bugsy clicked again and the Butterfree sent out a psionic wave which sent my Nidorino flying and colliding with a large boulder. This, unfortunately, damaged his hind leg quite badly and I chose to use one of his three recalls and administered a potion to his pokeball. He was then replaced with Nyx who with a low A note took to the air immediately. Perfect, she could outfly the Butterfree all day and was immune to her psychic based attacks.

To my surprise, Bugsy swapped pokemon back to his Scyther which took heavy damage from. The stones. Before he could click another attack I blew a loud D note and Nyx took to the sky. Unfortunately that gave Bugsy time to heal his Scyther before ordering it to take off after Nyx. The two of them began a game of cat and mouse, the Scyther much quicker than Nyx but Nyx much more nimble and agile. With me playing a few keynotes Nyx began darting in and out doing small hit and run attacks and chipping away at the Scythers brittle exoskeleton with her tough beak but I also knew one hit and she could be put out of the match. So I blew a D minor and she dived towards the ground. When the Scyther got close to attacking her I recalled her and replaced her with Atlas and the blew a large G note. Atlas stood still and the Scythers momentum carried it forward impaling it onto Atlas's horn. The Scyther responded by slashing deep into Atlas's side. The two of them stood there locked within one and another until they both passed out. Atlas from a combination of exertion and blood loss and the Scyther from the potent venom coursing through its veins.

I quickly sent out Nyx next for her last time and Bugsy sent out the Butterfree which was quickly dispatched by a quick wing attack from Nyx. Finally, Bugsy sent out his last pokemon and I sat there in worry until my initial theory paid off. You see there was only two pokemon Bugsy used against two badgers that would not be crippled by stealth rock, via the ways of the rest of his bugs having wings. Those being Heracross and Parasect, Both of which were double weak to Nyx and Heracross being the one he chose. So with a smile on my face, I blew two E sharps and Nyx used her new drill peck technique and defeated the Heracross in a single move, thus ending the battle and making me and the rest of the crowd explode in excitement over the fact that I had just won my second badge.

"I'll see you in my office," Bugsy said as he left the podium and I left directly after him.

* * *

When I got to his office I found Bugsy sitting reclined back with his legs resting on a large wooden desk.

"Please close the door behind you." He said in a low crisp voice as he gestured me to take a seat. I quickly followed his direction and then sat there anxiously fidgeting before his analyzing eyes. "That was some smart battling kid." He finally spoke after a few moments of silence.

"Um…. Thank you, leader." I replied as formally as I could.

"Please it's Bugsy, I hate that leader crap." He corrected me and I nodded starting to warm up a bit to him.

"Well kid, ya may not be much of a personality but ya can battle and that's a good thing." He continued onwards. "A lot of the time better that way."

"Um, better how?." I asked nervously.

"Well because there are sponsors looking atta now, two for two in gym battles in under a year? There calling ya the next Goldberg and any sponsor worth their money will be itching to sponsor ya."

"And why are you telling me this?" I asked nervously.

"Heh, like I said smart," he laughed. "I'm telling ya this because you're what thirteen?" He questioned.

"Fourteen in two months," I replied trying and failing to sound confident.

"My point exactly, you're a kid and those sponsors are gonna try and take advantage of ya because of it and I'd hate to see that happen to a smart kid like yourself." He explained.

"Well thank you very much," I said back now understanding what he was doing.

"So here's my advice to you kid, first off don't take any corporation morally wrong. Pesticides, nonrenewable energy, all of them will pay ya top dollar to spew shit so they can continue to end the world ya get me?" He continued and I nodded. "Good now second off, don't take annual payments if ya can, it's better to take a large sum of money and invest it, you'll make more money that way anyway. Third, off don't sign anything longer than a year, ya get locked into a long-ass contract then ya can't renegotiate or do shit, you're trapped. Finally and most importantly don't sign the first thing stuck at ya, there's always gonna be more offers compare and contrast, you're the one with the power here." He finished.

"Thank you again for your advice," I said taking all of his words to heart.

"Good, like I said you're a smart kid and I like that. I hope you go far." He said as he uploaded his badge and a large sum of money to my pokedex. "Now get out of my office I got a job to do." He said and I quickly followed his advice not wanting to anger him.

I walked out of the office and was immediately swarmed by reporters and journalists hoping to get a story from me. I just walked through politely rejecting all questions aimed towards me until I felt a large thump take me to the ground.

* * *

"What in the bloody fuck was that?" I heard the person on top of me yell and I couldn't but grin as I turned and pushed her off me.

"What do you mean?" I playfully asked back.

"When did ya get so bloody smart, ya got bollocks for brains," Katie said tapping my head with her forefinger.

"I just like playing dumb, funnier to screw with ya that way." I laughed back hugging her before realizing we were standing before a crowd of reporters and that they could very easily spin this the wrong way. "Ahem, drinks? I asked her?

"Now you're speaking my language, remember ya still owe me first round." She laughed back and we made our way out the door and to the nearest bar after ducking away from the reporters.

I made my way up to the bar and ordered two Delibirds, a drink that contained pomeg brandy, white rum, tonic, and topped with a rawst berry and sugar. It certainly got the did the job on my weakened constitution and I was feeling tipsy pretty quickly. Katie on the other hand like usual was able to handle her liquor pretty well.

We took turns buying drinks and dancing and hanging out and it was awesome though this time I made sure to be less drunk than the last time and had to deny a few of Katie's drinks.

"More for me," she'd say and down them pretty quickly after that. The night went by in patches, I remember dancing with Katie so she could avoid some creep that was stalking her.

I remember we hopped to another bar some time in the middle of the night, one that was playing some pretty hard music. I liked it though it seemed Katie was more into the bumping beats of the other club, still, we sat and watched them play for a while.

Then later we stopped in a restaurant; a big fancy one. They were glaring at us so hard as we were not nearly dressed up to there standards and I had quite a few stains on my shirt from earlier in the night when Katie tipped a tray of drinks on me. However, when I flashed them some cash, they were more than willing to accommodate us into the restaurant and we ate like kings.

"Fuck me, that Crawdaunt was delicious." Katie moaned as she scraped around the plate for any little scraps she could find.

"You should try this sirloin, it's made from Moo Moo fields Miltank and it is to die for," I said as I shoved some in her face, the juices splattering all over her.

"Hey!" She yelled wiping it away with a napkin. "That's it." She yelled as she threw some mashed potatoes at me that I just narrowly avoided and I retaliated with some string beans.

We were quickly kicked out of and banned from the restaurant when we accidentally hit some high up politician in the face. I know it was wrong but hey we were drunk and kids… drunk kids! So we couldn't have all the blame, most of it yes but not all of it.

When we stepped outside Katie lit a cigarette. "Hey ya want one?" She asked as I watched her take a long deep drag of it. The second biggest regret of my life was taking that cigarette but I did it and it was wonderful.

From there on we got into even more drunk shenanigans. We snuck back and stole the restaurant's sign, which ended with the Rangers chasing after us. Luckily they didn't know exactly who we were and we were able to ditch them in some back alley.

The night finally ended however back at our room. We stumbled through the door stumbling and carrying a sign that said Carmines; both having the best night of our entire lives.

"We need to do that more often." I giggled as I plopped down on the couch.

"Maybe if ya stop being such a tight ass all the time." Katie shot back and we both laughed.

"I'm sorry I just don't want to faillll." I slurred as my eyes began getting droopy.

"No don't sleep," Katie said as she slapped me in the face. "Sleep is bad."

"Right yes, I'm up". I said jumping to my feet. "You're pretty," I said as all shame left me.

"I know ya said it bloody eight times tonight." She replied her voice annoyed.

"You're pretty, You're pretty." I sang back. "Now it's ten." I laughed and she laughed too as I sat beside her.

"Well thank ya, it never hurts to hear that." She said blushing and I began to smile, she never blushed.

"Never heard ya so taken aback before." I cheekily said leaning in closer.

"Yeah well… yeah!" She said her face turning an even brighter red as she didn't move away.

"You're really pretty," I said moving even closer than that.

"Ele-," she started but was cut by my lips pressed tightly against hers and in both our minds fireworks exploded.

Katie and I broke apart from our kiss after what felt like hours but I'm sure it was only seconds. We stared into each other's eyes as a hundred emotions passed through both of us. Doubt, want, need, anger, sadness, joy all flickering by like an endless slideshow both daring the other to make sense of whatever just happened.

"We should probably go to bed." I finally muttered breaking the enchantment that held us in place.

"Y-yeah." Katie stammered back, one of the only times I ever saw her nervous.

So I excused myself and made my way to my room where I shut the door and fell back against it. My fingers gingerly brushing the tips of my lips as a dumb and goofy smile plastered its self across my face. That was the perfect moment was all I could think and all I could believe and I started to thank Arceus and all of his children for making alcohol.

When I heard the door to Katie's room close I made my way to my bed and passed out quickly. My dreams were pleasant for once that night.

When I awoke the next morning it was to a rough hangover and panicked at what had transpired the night before. I clutched my head out of both pain and embarrassment and berated myself about how stupid I was. I mean I kissed her, I kissed my only friend, my stupid, argumentive, sarcastic, fierce and beautiful friend but she was also still my only one. I probably ruined everything and now would have to go back to being alone all the time, that thought crippled me and I began to mourn our failed friendship already.

But my hangover called and it was begging me to vomit. So I slipped out of bed and out of my room and tried to sneak to the bathroom when Katie emerged from her room looking equally haggard and both of us just stared at each other in shocked silence.

"So I'm guessing you weren't drunk enough to forget last night?" Katie asked ending the silence.

"No… at least, not the big parts," I responded and we both fell into silence again.

"Well uh… this is awkward."

"Yup…"

"Wanna make out?" She finally said shattering the tension between us and causing me to start laughing my ass off. "Oh… what's so funny." She questioned the hurt clear in her voice.

"You're cute when you're awkward," I said and then nearly tackled her with my embrace. The two of us locked lips and fireworks exploded just like before and I knew that I had nothing to worry about.

After we finally unlocked from each other we went downstairs and grabbed some food and enjoyed each other's company, we bantered like always and kept sneaking little kisses whenever we could. We were so sweet we probably gave everyone around us diabetes.

After that, we strolled hand in hand to the mart where we gathered supplies for our long journey ahead. Katie made sure to get some alcohol much to my chagrin and she picked up a couple of packs of smokes. Something I, unfortunately, asked her to pick up for me as well, after the night before I had the strongest cravings for the things and guiltily fell into it but hey I was going into a deadly forest a cigarette would most likely not be the thing to kill me.

"Welcome to the dark side." Katie grinned as she took a long deep drag.

"Yeah, and it's all your fault." I shot back as I took a deep drag of my own. "God that's good." I sighed as I felt all the stress leave my body.

"Do you know what better?" Katie quizzed in a tone I knew all too well meant she was up to nothing good.

"What?" I resigned myself to whatever she had planned.

"This." She said taking a long deep drag and then kissing me and blowing it into my mouth.

"You're right that is better." I smiled goofily as I breathed out.

Then the two of us made our way out of the city gates hand in hand ready to face whatever the forest threw at us.

* * *

Surprisingly the forest was relatively tame for the first couple days. We ran into the occasional bug pokemon which delighted Nyx greatly as it meant the glutton got a snack and that made me happy cause it saved me a sandwich. Amaterasu still spent most of his time in my arms and clung to me like the surrogate mother I was. I made sure to feed him nutritious berries and whatever scraps of the bug types Nyx leftover. I always had to make a quickfire first as he could only eat them after they were charred to a crisp and that was annoying. However, he was still my baby so I did it for him with glee.

Vortumna had withdrawn to her pokeball. For she was beginning to evolve into her final stage and when that happened a pokemon would retreat or hide or hibernate until it was safe. The process could take days, weeks or even an as long as a year for some of them. Although the Eeveelutions typically didn't take more than two to three months. So she unfortunately wasn't around as much but I guessed that her evolution was triggered either by the forest or by how joyful I was due to my relationship with Katie. Both of which would give a much-needed power boost to her as she was beginning to fall away from the rest of my team. I secretly hoped it was the latter evolution as that's what I named her for. Katie, however, said it would most likely be a Leafeon due to our suspicion of me being a child of Demeter.

And Katie how can I describe what was going on with Katie. It was like something out of a fairy tale which didn't make sense because my life was never like a fairy tale. My life was shit always had been and now, it was amazing and wonderful and everything was working out. I kept wondering what would go wrong, how is this gonna be fucked up but it didn't and it was the best times of my life. Sure we still fought all the time but we always fought and it was never anything serious. More just us being as we always were. And we physically fought too, Katie still hadn't given up on training me to fight. So while our pokemon fought she kicked my ass, though it was slowly getting less and less so and I was getting less and less tired whenever we did so. With the constant workouts keeping both of us fit and in great shape even I had to admit that I looked decent.

The two of us never fucked though, Nah we both agreed we were too young, me being only thirteen and her fourteen. We agreed to wait a while till it would be special for both of us even if that never stopped us from making out and holding hands whenever we could. Yeah, life was going as good as it possibly could and it stayed that way as the weeks of our journey through the forest passed by. Until the eighth week hit and I stopped our traveling early that day.

"Why the bloody hell are we stopping so soon, we're making great fuckin time," Katie yelled at me and I had to resist the urge to snap back.

"Well do you know what day it is?" I asked leading her on.

"Uh… September eighth." She blanched back at me

"And I was hoping we could stop a bit early, cuddle and have a few drinks," I said pulling out a cigarette from my back pocket.

"Well, what's so fuckin special about September eighth?" She asked the frustration becoming evident in her voice.

"Well, it's my birthday." I shyly smiled back at her. "I'm the same age as you now."

"Oh…" She stammered. "Well, why didn't ya tell me your birthday was coming up? I would've bloody got ya something." She yelled back and I couldn't help but grin at the girl I had fallen for.

"Well you're here, that's all I need." I shot back.

Blushing Katie said, "You're a cheesy motherfucker ya know that." And we both burst into laughter.

Then we spent the rest of the day simply enjoying each other's company, watching Rex and Hector play with each other and Atlas dote over Amaterasu. Nyx sit among the tree branches watching over all of us and pretending like she didn't care while Gonzales hunted beneath the ground for whatever grub he could find. And we held hands and smoked and drank and for the first time in my life I realized that I was experiencing something I never thought I would, I was experiencing true happiness... Until we were interrupted as a man teleported in front of us. We instantly shot up and got into defensive positions. Out here in the wilderness, there were no real laws and so we were as cautious as could be. However, I recognized the man, he wore a red and white cap and was accompanied by an Espeon.

"Happy birthday, have ya finished that book yet?" He asked though I could tell he already knew the answer.

"Yeah," I answered anyways reflexively.

"Good, that's good and you miss Katerina Flannery?" He turned to her grinning.

"How do you know my name?" She demanded and I realized I didn't even know her last name.

"Take a guess?" He said gesturing to the Espeon beside him.

"Delphi." She spat out the words like they physically hurt her and stood in front of me protectively. "We should get out of here, fast!" She said turning to me and I didn't know exactly what to do.

"Wait did he say, Flannery? As in gym leader Flannery?" I asked wide eyes.

"We'll talk about that later." She shot at me. "For now we have to deal with the fucking Delphi."

"He's okay, he saved my life once." I tried to soothe her but she had none of it.

"Probably was the bloody cause behind ya being in danger in the first place." She angrily muttered to me.

"Nah, nothing like that. I nearly missed her, would've been a shame too." He casually replied stretching his arms.

"How'd ya almost miss her? I thought you guys didn't miss anything."

"Believe it or not Apollo, some of us Delphi's actually like to not see the future. It gets boring knowing everything, now do you mind if I take a seat?" He said as he slowly took a step forward.

"Uh-uh, I've seen what your kind does, one more step forward and Rex here takes a chunk out of your leg." She said gesturing to your Houndoom.

"You don't know who I am doing you?" The man asked and Katie shook her head, much like before he looked familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"Well then, let's see if this jobs your memory?" He laughed and pressed a button on his belt, it released a small yellow rodent with red cheeks and black stripes.

"Oh my god!" I gasped.

"What?" Katie tearfully asked, eyes darting left and right.

"That's Red," I muttered awestruck and it was Katie's turn to gasp.

"Now." He said reaching into his bag and pulling out a beer. "We got some talking to do." He said sitting down beside us.

"So why exactly are you here?" Katie asked him skeptically.

"Well, it's because of her." He gestured to me and I had to repress a freakout.

"Mhmm and a Delphi taking interest in someone is never good." Katie shot back.

"Yes I agree, unfortunately, a Delphi is always gonna be interested in her and you're both lucky it was me." He said as he took another ruling sip of his beer.

"Why's that? Don't tell you can't tell what she is. I mean it so obvious, plus you? A child of Apollo? There's a reason you guys get along so well." He chattered and I began to grow nervous.

"I mean I have my suspicions, weak to toxins, good relation with Fire? She's probably a Demeter." Katie explained.

Red laughed harshly, "Demeter, come on. I mean no offense to Demeter's and I know Erika would kill me if I said this but there not that important."

"Then what is she!?" Katie yelled ferociously back at him.

"Well that will be clear in three ...two...one…" He counted down and then gestured to the Pokeball that contained Vortumna and she exploded outwards from it at once and into the air revealing her new form.

Katie gasped and I stared in awe. What stood before us was a small creamy white cat-like creature with pink legs and long white ribbon appendages ending in blue tips sprouting from its pink ears.

"I don't fuckin believe it." Katie gasped in wonder.

"That right there, is why I am here," Red said but all attitude was gone from his voice as well and was also replaced with awe.

"What is it?" I asked turning around to face them and saw that they were both kneeling before me. "What?"

"Milady." They both said in unison which shocked me.

"What!?" I asked again this time in fury.

"You're a bloody child of Lady Hestia." Katie finally said and everything clicked.

 _ **End of book 1**_

* * *

Edited as of 23/09/2019

 **MG**

Nyx: Murkrow, Female, Level twenty-eight

Vortumna: Sylveon, Female, Level twenty-four

Atlas: Nidorino, Male, Level thirty-one

Amaterasu: Magby, Female, Level one

 **Katie**

Rex: Houndoom, Male, level Forty-four

Hector: Growlithe, Male, Level Thirty-six

Gonzales: Sanshrew, Male: Level twenty

 _Hey everyone thanks again for reading this and congrats if you made it this far. I mean I know I'm not the best writer. Hell, I'd even say I'm not a good writer but I like it, and you guys supporting favoriting, following and reviewing has boosted my confidence a lot._

 _I've had a hell of a time working on this and will continue to have a hell of a time working on it. I mean 60,000 words? Fucking hell I thought I would quit by 10,000 and I'm not close to being done yet._

 _Now in case ya hadn't realized I don't do much planning when writing this. Hence 13 chapters before the first gym and only 6 before the first **This has been fixed**. Part of that is plot reasons but it's also because I am an impulsive writer. As such book, 2 will probably be updated a lot slower as I wanna try and increase my word count per chapter but also I wanna try and plan out and be more prepared so there is less filler and more actual plot for part 2. As that's when the real story would begin… yeah, I remember some criticism a couple of chapters ago around how the plot hadn't really gone anywhere and such. Well that' because all 15 chapters and 60,000 words have all been build-up, all for this! The reveal of Katie's last name and the reveal of what MG actually is. Also, I am gonna spend some time in between books, going back editing and improving some previous chapters I'm not too happy about._

 _As for the actual chapter? Well, It was set to be two things. One was to establish Katie and MG's relationship. I mean come on, I wasn't gonna pull that whole will they won't they drama crap. Instead, I just went with what the characters would do and both of them wanted it so it worked out. So I wanted to give some happy little fluff and goodness before ending Book 1. Since well the next part is gonna be fucking crazy._

 _Then finally the Red reveal which was kind of obvious and the Hestia reveal which I have been hinting at for so long. Why MG has a distrust of certain people immediately, why she could read who Katie was right from the start and also because Hestia seems to be the main god focused on. In retrospect, it should be obvious but fuck am I glad its finally in the open._

 _Anyways, as I said before, thank you for all the support and it will be a while before the next update._

 _Support me on my Ptreon, I can PM you a link. If anyone wants to make art, that would be cool._

 _And uh…_

 _Until Next Time - Pious Mage._

 _Edit: With the new edits, the first chapter of part 2 is now Special Episode two._


	15. Special Episode 2: Delphi

Wil walked up and down the corridor that lay just outside his bedroom. He quickly dialed a number on his phone and waited for exactly four rings before a man answered his call.

"Hello Red." Wil greeted over the phone as he continued his incessant pacing.

"Hello, Wil" Red greeted back. "That was an interesting trick you pulled on old Bill, I was barely able to warn him in time," Red said in a casual tone.

"Yes well, I was hoping to take out one of your top players," Wil responded.

"Well, we both know that isn't gonna happen, especially since you can't see my pawns."

"And you can't see mine," Wil confirmed and they both shared a moment of silence.

"Well, what did you call me for?" Red finally asked breaking the silence.

"Why can't I enjoy talking to an old flame." Wil falsely mocked.

"Sure, but we both know that's not it." Red shot back all pretense of play gone from his voice.

"Well, it's just such a bore talking to all these others, especially when I know there fates you know? Well besides Karen of course." Wil explained and Red remained silent. "Plus I enjoy speaking to the man I'll die alongside." He continued and that got a chuckle out of Red.

"Well I can agree with that, it's nice knowing I won't go alone. Though how many phone calls do you think we have left?" Red asked back and Wil shrugged before remembering that Red could not see that.

"Three maybe four?" Wil suggested.

"Then we best make them count old friend," Red said and Wil agreed despite them not actually being friends or at least both friends and enemies. "Besides I still got a surprise or two," Red suggested.

"Oh really now?" Wil asked curiosity getting the better of him.

"Yes, my final plan is in motion, my last pawn in action. Now time to just watch it all play out." Red confirmed.

"Well, I won't make it easy for you," Wil said.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Red laughed.

"Well, I best be going. I gotta start planning." Wil also laughed.

"Have fun with that and don't forget to call me in a few weeks," Red said a little loneliness dripping from his voice.

"Don't worry, I will talk to you then." Wil finished and hung up the phone. Then he made his way to the dining hall.

When he arrived he saw Lance and sitting at the table. Kogan was nowhere to be seen as usual and Bruno was meditating a short distance away. Wil grinned and sat down with his to compatriots.

"Any good names this time around?" He asked.

"The usual, the only one to look out for his number 3," Lance said sliding him the list.

"Hmmm MG? What's so special about her?" Wil asked his leader.

"They're calling her the next Goldberg, two gym badges in a little over half a year?" Lance explained.

"I'll see what I can find out." Wil nodded and then began to use the powers bestowed upon him by his grand ancestor, the powers which let him see far into the future. Yet he could not see this girl, this MG's future at least not like he could others. "She must be a child of Artemis." He finally said to his compatriots.

"She's not, Lance had me check her out a few weeks ago. I met her when she was drunk, and she didn't have the feel of one of my brothers or sisters plus I followed her for a bit and that Murkrow of hers barely obeys her. That's not like one of my kind." Karen explained repeatedly tapping her fingers on the table in front of her.

"Then she must be one of his…" Wil finally said after a few moments of silence.

"Yes just like Goldberg, and just like Goldberg we may need to take matters into our own hands." Lance mused as he took a sip of his coffee.

"She's just a child," Bruno interjected breaking his medication. "No older than thirteen. At least Goldberg was a man." He stated firmly and the room collapsed into silence.

"True, I do not wish to soil my soul nor my families name with the murder of a child." Lance agreed somberly.

"Then we'll watch her?" Wil asked nervously.

"Yes we'll watch her and if she becomes a threat than we'll have to make a move. Is that satisfactory Bruno?" Lance asked the muscle builder.

"It is." He agreed.

"Alright Karen, get Koga on it at once," Lance ordered.

"As you wish," Karen said bowing low and then disappearing into the shadows.

"Sir you have two challengers," Wil announced as he saw them come to the league's doors.

"Arceus Damnit." Lance sighed. "Alright, meeting adjourned." He finished and then stood up and left the table leaving Wil alone with Bruno and his thoughts.

 _"Red did say that he had a new weapon, I wonder…."_ Wil thought to himself then got up and went to do some research. He had a game to win.

 **Beginning of Book 2.**


	16. Exposition

"It all makes bloody fuckin sense now." Katie half yelled, half laughed maniacally as she looked at me.

"What do you mean?" I asked my nerves building up." and would you two stop fucking kneeling." I exclaimed harshly hating the special treatment they were both giving me and they both stood up awkwardly.

"It's like he said, why we get along so well. Fire and Life, since the beginning of humanity they've been intrinsically linked forces and Apollo was Hestia's only child." She chattered excitedly. "And Atlas, he didn't immediately like you because you weren't a Demeter but a Hestian and children of Hestia are weak to poisons and toxins, also is probably why you're such a lightweight." She continued explaining frantically.

"It's also why that Murkrow of hers is such a brat to her. Light of life and all that crap, well dark types don't like it much." Red finally chipped into the conversation.

"So when people have been saying I'm special…?" I asked quietly more to myself than anyone else.

"It's cause they could feel it, children of Hestia just feel different from all the others, I mean they're one of the big three alongside Chronos and Hades and only one born of those three can have that kind of power," Red explained in a bored tone as if this was usual for him.

"Big three?" I asked looking at him.

"The original children of Arceus and Hera, god kid I thought you said you read the book." He chided and I grew flush with anger.

"I did! I just am new to this and don't know what all of it means." I shot back.

"Fair enough, sorry about that." Red apologized. "I never know quite how to treat newbies, I mean ya should have seen how Gold reacted.

"Gold was a child of the gods?" I asked my anger swept away by my curiosity.

"Of course he was. Besides Whitney, every major trainer is at least a minor blood." Red lectured. "Oh, and before you ask, he was a child of Zeus." He finished.

"The Jolteon." I realized out loud.

Red nodded. "Common test to determine which Child you are."

"That's how you knew he was one of the trio." I gasped turning to Katie.

"Yup, and the fact he just knew where we were made it pretty obvious he was a stinking Delphi." She said spitting the last words vilely.

"Wait what about non-gods and other children, ones without Eevee's?" I questioned them both.

"Stones, age, ya know the same bloody reasons everyone else believes," Katie explained.

"Then what happens if a child of the gods uses a stone?"

"It'd evolve into one of those, the only ones that children like you can't get are Umbreon and Espeon," Red answered.

"Because they only can be evolved naturally…" I finished.

"You're smart, I knew there was a reason I chose you." He grinned and the way he said chose made me feel cold.

"And that's what it all fucking comes down to eh lad? Why a Delphi would be interested and choose her." Katie furiously chimed in.

"Ya mean besides the fact it's any Delphi's wet dream to have one of Lady Hestia's children?" He retorted still grinning widely.

"Ya besides that," Katie said anger pooling around her voice.

"Well, it's because of whom I wish to take down," Red told us.

"Arceus Damnit can a Delphi ever give a non-cryptic-ass bullshit answer for once?" She yelled throwing her hands into the air and pacing back and forth.

"Of course we can, it's just more fun this way." He laughed and I had to run forward to stop Katie from hitting him. "Anyways you guys don't read the news do you?" He continued.

"More important things to do," I said before Katie could jump in with more angry ranting.

"Nah, nothing more important than being informed kid, information makes the world go round." He lectured and I could feel my anger begin to bubble again.

"Of course you would say that Delphi's can fucking see through time, so you have all the information in the world." Katie jumped in.

"Close but nope. We can't see the paths other Delphi's walk, nor the people that they have chosen to use either." He explained. "Artemis's too actually." He added in after.

"So what's this gotta do with the news?" I asked trying to steer us back on track. The way this is going this conversation would never end.

"Well… you heard about Goldberg right?" He asked.

"Yeah so…" I answered.

"Tell me how did he die?" He leads me onwards.

"Reports say it was a strong psychic attack, probably caused by while training out in the presence of strong wild pokemon like those of the Mt. Silver area." I continued.

"And now how could a wild pokemon be strong enough to beat Gold's team?"

"Well, they blamed that on Bill," I repeated what the news told me.

"Bill? The scientist? How did he do that?" He questioned and I strained to remember.

"He… created a machine, one which could lock pokeballs… make it so they uh, so they couldn't release there pokemon." I repeated what I'd heard Lance say before.

"Man there good at making little puppets ain't they?" Red laughed though there was no joy in it. "Now did you know that's it's impossible to make technology that can do that?"

"What do you mean?" Katie interjected quickly.

"Bill can explain it a lot better than I can, but it has something to do with fail-safes and unique electrical circuitry with each pokeball. Essentially there designed so that each is different enough that even if one doesn't work the rest will. For failsafe and liability reasons." He added that last part.

"So you're saying Bill didn't kill him?" I asked.

"No, he did not," Red answered.

"Well if it was a high level psychic, how do we know ya didn't kill him? I mean you're a Delphi… a strong psychic trainer after all." Katie questioned him.

"I like her." Red leaned in and whispered to me. "You can't know, at least not for certain but his death was partially my fault." He admitted sadly.

"How so?"

"I'm the one who put him on top. The one who made him a target"

"Is that what you're planning on doing with me? Putting me on top." I asked anxiety beginning to grow through my body like a vine.

"Nah. Tried that and it didn't work, time for a new plan." He brushed my question away.

"And that plan is?" Katie queried him.

"A magician doesn't reveal his secrets." He said shutting her down. "But it does involve avenging Gold and taking down the corrupt snake on top. " He hinted.

"Lance? You're saying Lance is responsible for Gold's death?" I asked openmouthed in awe.

"Chronos's always need to try and be on top, you know that right?" He said gesturing to Katie before continuing.

"He's not wrong Katie," agreed bitterly.

"And Lance is one of the worst examples I've ever seen of that.

"But how could he get away with that? I mean he's the ex-champion, first in line for the throne. Wouldn't he be the first suspect?" I quickly questioned.

"That would be true if he wasn't the one running the investigation." Red agreed.

"But how is that fair?" I asked flustered.

"It's not, that's politics." Red laughed that hollow laugh once more.

"That doesn't explain the psychic type though," Katie muttered. "Lance is a child of Chronos, he only uses Dragon or Dragon-like pokemon. As far as I know, the only bloody combination like that belongs to the Lati twins. Which I think my homeland would know if someone else had em." Katie jumped in once more.

"You really are something else ain't ya." Red praised her.

Katie scowled, "So how'd he do it."

"Jeez, tough crowd." Red moaned. "Simple MG, who are the elite four members again? Karen, Koga Bruno and…."

"Wil," I finished him my eyes going wide with realization.

"And what kinda type does Wil train?" Red lead me forward.

"Psychic…" I said the puzzle beginning to snap together

"A second Delphi," Katie said getting to the conclusion before I could.

"Precisely." He agreed and then added on grinning. "A sloppy one at that too, but it's not his fault he's playing against a grandmaster."

"Playing?" I asked.

"It's why everyone hates Delphi's it's just a game to them." Katie sneered.

"Not quite, I'm actually trying to make a better future." Red maintained.

"How are we supposed to believe that." Katie rebuked.

"Well ask her." Red gestured to me. "She's one of Lady Hestia's she can tell if someone is lying better than anyone else." He suggested and Katie lapsed into silence.

"Er, I'm sorry I don't know how to do that," I muttered apologetically.

"Meh, it's not something ya have to do, ya just have to feel it." He explained and I looked at him hard, concentrating with all my might. I began to see a silvery pinkish aura rotate around him. Alongside that, I could see colors flashing around his body, and each color brought a different feeling. Worry, suspense, excitement and underneath it all, I could feel a deep sense of honesty emitting from him.

"He's telling the truth," I whispered amazed. "He's telling the truth," I repeated louder realizing they didn't hear me and I could see Red's shoulders sag with relief.

"That good enough for you?" He demanded.

"Yeah… yeah, it is." She relented and all the tension in the air dropped. "So what is it ya want with us?" She asked after a few moments of silence.

"Well if ya make it through the forest I'll tell ya." He chuckled and this time I didn't stop Katie from hitting him though she just punched his shoulder. "I deserved that," he laughed.

"Well, how are we supposed to know where to meet ya," I asked trying to cover all the bases.

"Delphi, remember I'll come to you." He said gesturing to himself and Katie flipped him a rude gesture. "Fine, I got presents." He said and we both perked up at that.

"What kinda presents," Katie questioned suspiciously.

"Gees still touchy ain't we?." He asked reaching into the bag and pulling out two pokeballs. "One for you." He said tossing Katie, "annnd one for you." He smiled tossing me the other.

"What are they?" I enquired.

"Kids these days! Open em up and take a look won'tcha." He said and Katie released hers first.

Before us stood a bipedal burgundy fox with a yellowish cream face tipped with orange ears and a soft white belly. In one hand it carried a large brown stick set ablaze like a staff that it used as a staff.

I gasped in wonder. "A Delphox aren't these super rare?" I asked turning to Red.

"Special favor from an old friend, personally trained by me." He smiled and I turned to Katie who sat there in awe.

"How'd ya know?" She finally asked after a few moments.

"How'd I know what?"

"How'd ya know I always wanted one of these." She said never taking her eyes off the beautiful creature before her.

"Delphi." He grinned. "However, I didn't know, just the only Psychic-Fire Type around. Figured an Apollo-like yourself wouldn't want anything less."

"Thank you!" She beamed tears forming in her eye.

"It's no problem. Now your turn kid." He gestured to me and I quickly pressed the release button on my pokeball with fresh excitement.

What emerged before me was a small green fairy. A white face gleaming with bright red eyes and covered in long green hair, two red ears poking out from the hair. It was wearing what seemed to be a small white dress over top it's body and looked up at me shyly.

"A Kirlia," I muttered this time it was my turn to look on in awe.

"I woulda got ya a Garedevoir but they get to attached to there trainers and I never would've been able to give it away. So sorry but ya gotta raise this one mostly yourself." He explained sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

"No, she's perfect." I smiled remembering a children's story I'd snuck into my home when I was much younger. It was a simple story about a young girl who was lost. She ran into a Kirlia who had no home and the Kirlia took her home. The girl's parents adopted the Kirlia and they all lived happily ever after. I remember I used to hope that I'd run into a Kirlia and that it would take me home to a different family, a better family.

 _"Hello, Mistress I'm sorry to intrude on your nostalgia."_ I heard a voice echo throughout my mind and I quickly threw my hands to my head as an overwhelming headache swept through me.

"Oooh, probably should have warned that Psychic communication is pretty painful for the first time." Red sheepishly muttered.

"Fuck you!" I manager to stammer out in between flashes of pain.

"Haha okay bye." He said and quickly teleported away.

"Wait" Katie yelled but it was too late. "Motherfucker. How are we supposed to get in contact with him now." She said furiously kicking a pebble into the forest.

" _Master Red has given us direct ways to communicate with him."_ I heard a different voice echo through my head sending a fresh wave of pain and judging by the way Katie turned to the Delphox I guessed it was her who said it.

"Well can you tell him to go fuck emself." She muttered as she looked for more things to kick.

"Acknowledged _."_ Was the last thing I heard before I passed out from the pain.

* * *

I later woke up to an unfamiliar and yet somewhat familiar warmth and when I opened my eyes I saw Vortumna my brand new Sylveon cuddled up next to my chest purring contentedly. I rubbed my eyes and sat up to watch Katie stoke the fire. I sat there stroking Vortumna's fur and simply drinking in the image before me and then sat down beside her.

"How long was I out?" I asked looking up at the dark night sky.

"Hour, maybe an hour, hour and a half." She grumbled as she focused on the task before her. "Sorry about that by the way, I remember something similar happening with me and Kizno back in the day, hurt like a motherfucker."

"Ya got that right?" I laughed remembering the sharp pain from before. "So we need to talk," I said after a few moments of contented silence.

"What about?" She muttered disinterestedly.

"Flannery?" I confronted and we lapsed into silence some more.

"I told ya I had family problems." She angrily replied.

"Yeah but you never said that." I pushed back.

"Well, I didn't wanna talk about it."

"That much is clear."

"So why are you still bothering me about it." She yelled back.

"Because I wanna know about you."

"Well, what about you huh." She turned on me. "Hell I didn't know it was your birthday today, I don't know your story, hell I don't even know your name!" She yelled back her voice getting steadily louder with every word.

"Fine take a seat," I replied gesturing to anywhere around the fire. "I'll tell you everything." I relented.

So I did, I told her everything. I told her my name and how I used to try and run away from home. How my mother was an abusive junkie. I told her what my father did for me the night before I left home and how he was found two days later dead. I told her all my uncertainties, all my fears, and beliefs. How guilty I felt for killing that Cacnea so long ago and I cried as I talked about Panns death. I laughed as I told her how much of a bitch Nyx was and how Vortumna used to love chasing random leaves. I told her about my nightmares involving Nidoking, Onix and Gyarados and other various serpents and my own desperate want to find joy in life and how I was determined to never fucking die in a cave. I told her everything.

In return, she told me about her life.

* * *

She was born the only child of Gym leader Elizabeth Flannery, the gym leader and one of the heroes who fought against Team Magma and Aqua in the crisis that struck Hoenn fifteen years back. Her mom supposedly met her dad during one of the battles and he died in another one before she was born. Her mom like her was an Apollo just like her grandfather and his father before him stretching all the way back to the beginning of recorded history in Hoenn.

They had been in charge of the gym in Lavaridge since the Hoenn league's creation. Katie was expected to be the next in a long line of successors to lead the gym but she ran away from home as in her own words her mother was "batshit crazy strict." So she stole a Numel from a litter that her mother's Camerupt had; named it Johnny and also stole a lot of money then went on her way. She traveled the region for a while mostly sticking to the mountains and volcanoes where she could find fire types. There she met a small Swablu chick who had fallen out of his nest which would eventually become a giant Altaria named Samwell. As she traveled she caught a Drowzee named Kizno and even a Charmander though it died before it could ever evolve get a name and eventually Rex too.

It was after that when traveling around the mountains that she accidentally disturbed a Salamences nest. With her whole team defeated and her facing almost certain death, a Delphi from magma arrived and saved her. He recruited her and told her all sorts of lies and how she'd be among her own people in that team. The next two years were a drug and alcohol-fueled daze running jobs, getting high and making okay money on top of what she'd already stolen from her mother.

Then came the day of the battle, as she told me before she watched as almost all her pokemon died. Kizno now a Hypno was eaten by a Sharpedo's crunch and Johnny was drowned alive. The only two to make it out alive were Samwell and Red, though Samwell eventually succumbed to injuries he had sustained I'm the battle with Rex.

The night after the battle she snuck into the Delphi who recruited her room and slit his throat while he slept. Then fearing the repercussions she fled from Hoenn, using the money she had to buy Gonzales and flee. A couple of uneasy weeks at sea and she arrived in Olivine and traveled Johto for a while. Somewhere in Ecruteaks forest, she found Hector and alongside Rex and Gonzales they'd form her team. She travelled around Johto for a bit before deciding to trek Ilex cave where she got lost and met me, the rest is history.

* * *

After she finished we both held each other and cried; we both came out of the ordeal much closer than we ever had before.

The next day would be a long travel day to make up for the day we missed before. So we packed up and I checked in on my entire team. Amaterasu who now was able to walk by herself was chasing Hector and Rex around who were barking and running from the baby in joy while Atlas watched protectively. Vortumna never left my side, her new form more joyful and attached than ever. The only one besides Nyx who stayed to herself was the Kirlia and so I approached her.

"Hey, sorry we got off on the wrong foot yesterday," I said kneeling next to her.

" _How can there be a wrong foot?"_ Her voice echoed through my head puzzled, that was gonna take some time to get used to.

"It's a figure of speech," I explained to her.

" _A figure speaking what?"_ She asked the same tone of puzzlement in her voice and I groaned this was gonna be hard. " _I can hear your thoughts mistress._ " She added and I groaned even harder.

"Do you have a name?" I changed the topic quickly.

" _My name is something hard for your kind to pronounce. Instead Master Red always called me Victoria."_

"And do you like this name?"

" _Oh yes, very much so mistress."_ She nodded and I smiled at her enthusiasm. Alright, maybe not that hard.

"So what tricks can a psychic like you do?"

" _Well besides telepathy I can also do telekinesis and teleportation."_ She explained and I nodded along. _"I can also create an open link so other beings can communicate with you and back like master Red."_ She continued.

"Wait a second all other beings?" I questioned her suspiciously.

" _Of course mistress."_ She informed me

"How does that work? Do they think in the same language I do?" My stubborn curiosity forced me to ask.

"No mistress. I simply translate the thoughts between you and the others so you can understand them.

"Set me up a link with my team will you?" I ordered her grinning.

" _Absolutely mistress."_ She said and suddenly my brain was filled with a dozen thoughts at once and my headache returned.

"Please make it so it all doesn't happen at once." I grimaced.

" _As you wish, you can now control the open links as you wish."_ She informed me.

I smiled as I tested it by opening the one to Vortumna. " _Yay, she's looking at me. Alright VoVo, don't panic… don't panic… and cute face!"_ I heard a high pitched squeal in my head. " _No pets, awwwww not cute enough, bad girl!"_ The squeal reprimanded herself and I reached down and pet her. " _Yay pets!_ " She cheered and chased her tail in circles. I couldn't help but smile, Vortumna acted exactly as I thought she would.

"Hey, girl can ya understand me?" I kneeled and asked her as I stroked her head.

" _Understand? Yes, I understand bestest best person!"_ She said jumping up and down.

"Good I understand you now too," I said.

The resulting squeal pierced my brain like a knife. " _Eeeeeeeeeeh! Yes, now we can be the bestest of best friends. We already were but how we can be even more bestests friends for life. We can talk about the others and cheer and run around and sniff trees and do everything together always!"_ She continued so fast I could barely comprehend everything she said.

"Sure thing girl." I smiled down and pet her.

" _Yaaaaaaay pets!_ " She yelled in my mind.

"I'll be back to talk to you later alright? I need to check on the others." I smiled.

" _Awwww, will you pet after?"_ She asked her eyes gleaming with hope.

"Sure thing girl."

" _Yay!"_ She cheered and began running around our entire group as I made my way over to Atlas.

" _I take it by the pink ones telling that you can speak to us now."_ He greeted me in a very low tone.

"Yes, I can," I answered him.

" _Good, a king must be able to communicate with his subjects."_ He grunted.

"I'm your subject?" I questioned him angrily.

" _You are my clan and I am your king. That is how this works and as your king, I shall protect and serve my subjects as you will me."_ He explained and I nodded along.

"Good, then you have my trust, your majesty," I said emphasizing the last words.

" _Good, then I will talk when I must."_ He agreed and wandered off not catching the sarcasm.

Next, I went to Amaterasu and scooped her up and away from the two dogs; much to all there's chagrin.

"Hey, little one," I whispered soothingly to her ear as she squirmed in my arms.

" _Mama down, down!"_ She begged squirming and I smiled and let her down. I wasn't gonna get much out of her and so lastly I made my way to Nyx who I was most curious about.

"Hey…" I muttered awkwardly to her.

" _Why?"_ She responded back in a scratchy sort of squawking voice.

"Why what?"

" _Why you so stupid."_ She finished and let out a loud harsh laugh.

"Really, Really?" I wondered dumbfounded.

" _Hey, now I can finally tell ya the long list of problems I have with you."_

 _"_ And what are those?"

" _Well first off, what's with the food management, I mean come on I'm freakin starving over here."_

"Starving you eat three sandwiches a day plus whatever bugs you can catch," I exclaimed astounded.

" _Yeah were gonna need to crank them numbers up to five."_

"Five I can barely afford three."

 _That's your problem, not mine."_ She maintained cleaning her feathers. " _Next what's up with all this work you're making me do, I'm a damn crow, not an Arceus forsaken Tauros. Give me a break."_ She continued.

"Hey, that's for-"

"I'm not finished _yet toots. Next, the pink annoying one that worships you like you're a goddess?"_

"Vortumna?"

" _Yeah, Coco. She's too freakin positive all the time, do something about that all right, like sheesh."_

"Are you done?" I muttered frustrated.

" _I'll think of more later."_ She concluded.

"Good because now I'll tell ya just what I think of your list," I yelled back at her. "First off you're already fat enough as is, I can barely understand how you can still fly."

" _Hey ya don't talk about a lady's weight like-"_

'"I'm not done." I cut in mimicking her earlier. "Next you train so you can keep living and get stronger. Now if you didn't spend time eating and actually worked harder you might be a Honchkrow already but little miss perfect can't manage that can she."

 _"Heyyy!"_ She yelled back offended.

"No heys! No, but's nothing!. Thirdly, if I ever hear you tell me to get rid of a teammate again I swear to Arceus I'll put you in your ball and release you next to a sleeping Ursaring. You understand me!" I screamed back at her letting all of the frustration I had built up against her out at once.

" _Took ya long enough. Jeez, here I thought you were a stupid softy but ya actually got some guts on ya. Ya, I understand."_ She finished as I breathed in deeply calming myself.

From then on something changed between us she showed me more respect and while I realize now that just after the Onix attack was when she first became mine. It was at that moment that I first really realized she was mine and I was hers.

As the days progressed into night and nights into weeks we continued our travels. Unlike the last times we traveled we weren't interrupted by roaming Onix's or crazy Nidokings nor did we get lost.

That's not too say we didn't have any troubles, we fought and argued as we always did. At one point we nearly wandered into a wild Sceptiles territory before Katie recognized it for what it was and steered us away and knocked me upside the head for leading us that way.

Then there was the time that a Heracross infiltrated our camp and nearly made off with all our berries. It took a combination of Rex, Hector, and Nyx to find where the thing hid and they took it down fairly easily but brutally. On the plus side we found out what Heracross tastes like and once you get past the hard carapace it actually tastes quite delicious, sorta like a land version of Crawdaunt.

Our training sessions also continued and Amaterasu had begun to join in. Katie took special care in helping with that thanks to her extensive knowledge of fire types and Rex and Hector taught the little girl how to produce fire. Soon enough we had her fighting every little Weedle and Caterpie. She was growing up so fast and it surprised me even with the knowledge that pokemon grow much faster than humans. Katie mainly focused on training her Delphox that she named Maiden.

Katie and I's training also continued. I still always lost every fight but I hadn't been knocked out in weeks and there were quite a few times I got pretty close. Our faces, on the other hand, looked like a Snorlax had rolled on them and only with extensive uses of potions did we get the swelling to go down at all and even then we were left tender and sore.

She also began teaching me how to use the knife for more than cooking though neither of us dared use it on each other. Instead, she showed me the proper way to hold it and swing it so I didn't injure myself and though I knicked myself over and over again I eventually learned and defeated all the mock opponents I made up in my mind with glee.

I also trained my mind, due to my now extremely faithful psychic servant. I began adjusting myself to the telepathy and by the end of our journey in the forest, I was able to handle all my communication channels be open and was able to communicate with all my team at once. Though I often closed them all off when I wanted to rest and get some peace.

Laughing and loving with Katie and my pokemon were the most joyful weeks of my entire life. I finally had what I lacked my entire life a real true family. However, no matter how sad it is all good things must come to an end. An end is what came to our beautiful little honeymoon period as we emerged from the forest and were greeted by the many farmlands that stretched beyond it, in the distance, we could see the looming outline of Goldenrod our grand destination.

We would arrive on November twentieth, eight weeks before my deadline and in seven weeks all that joy would be gone.

* * *

 **MG**

Nyx: Murkrow, Female, Level thirty-one

Sylveon: Eevee, Female, Level twenty-seven

Atlas: Nidorino, Male, Level thirty-three

Amaterasu: Magby, Female, Level five

Victoria: Kirlia, Female, Level Twenty-five

 **Katie**

Rex: Houndoom, Male, level Forty-Three

Hector: Growlithe, Male, Level Thirty-eight

Gonzales: Sanshrew, Male: Level twenty-two

Maiden: Delphox, Level forty-five

 _Here we go guys, the true beginning of book 2. Thank you for all the follows and favorites._

 _In sadder news, this is my final author's note on here. I hate taking up the word count and such with this and taking up the page. So from now on, I will be doing my author's notes on my Deviantart account of the same name where I can post full-length journals for those who are interested._

 _-until next time_

 _Pious_Mage_


	17. Boogeyman

Goldenrod was and still is the most wondrous city I have ever visited. To understand it from my perspective, I was born and raised in Cherrygrove; which while not as small as say Pallet. It was small enough to have no gym nor enough league funding to supply its inhabitants with starter pokemon regularly. Meanwhile in Goldenrod. as far as the eye could see hundreds of people were hustling around its busy streets. It was to put it simply an astonishing cultural shock for a fourteen-year-old girl and you have to forgive me for what I did next mainly because of my age. I went sprinting off away from the rest of my group without a single word of explanation, too caught up in my own excitement.

I ran past a small cafe where a young man no older than sixteen stood playing a guitar and singing. It was better than any live singer I had ever heard before and I quickly doubled back to throw some money in the hat he collected tips in. I ignored some panhandlers and beggars asking for me to give them money, there habits reminding me too much of my parents. My smell was filled by the most wonderful scents as I passed booths and vendors that sold everything from Torchick to Feraligator and more. Everywhere I went was a new sensation, a new sight to behold. It only made sense that the first real familiar thing to hit me was Katie hitting me across the back of the head.

"What the bloody shit do ya think you're doing running off like that. Ya almost gave me a fuckin heart attack ya stupid git." She yelled at me and I had to block another swipe to my head.

"Ow, that hurts." I moaned back shifting into a defensive position.

"Good ya deserved it ya loon." She cursed at me once more and I dropped my position into one more filled with shame.

"Sorry about that, something just took over me." I apologized sheepishly.

"Ah forget it, I understand what you're feeling. Ya should've seen me when I first entered Lilycove, I went fuckin nuts." She shrugged it off and I was back to staring around the city in wonder except for this time I walked hand in hand with Katie as we took in the sights together.

Eventually, after a few hours, we found out the way to the poke center and booked a room together. We both left all but one of our pokemon to be healed up. I kept Victoria with me as I wished to bond with her a bit more and Katie kept Hector as he was probably the friendliest pokemon in the world and the best to walk among the busy streets of Goldenrod. After asking the nurse for some directions to the gym we left again.

For the first time in a very long time, we were not in a rush, so we took our time and enjoyed ourselves.

"What are the odds ya try it?" Katie asked me as we stopped at a small street vendor that served cooked Spinarak on a stick. Which, was supposedly a delicacy in the northern parts of Kalos.

"1 in a billion." I shot back with disgust painted all over my face.

"We'll take two," Katie said quickly turning to the vendor.

"Wait what!" I yelled but it was too late as she already transferred the money over to him.

"Lesson number whatever the fuck it is. Try new shit." She laughed as she handed me one of the sticks.

"And if I don't?" I questioned back.

"Well then we'll just have to do double duty on our fighting practice now won't we?" She smirked as I suddenly swallowed anxiously.

"Fine, I'll eat it! Ar you happy?" I relented annoyed.

"Not until you take a bite." She continued and groaning I took a small bite. The flavor was good but the texture was a weird combination of crunchy and slimy that barely made it down my throat.

"Arceus above that sucks." I coughed and gagged.

"Well, at least ya tried it." She cheerily said slapping me on the back. Then we continued walking onwards to our destination.

" _Victoria?"_ I shot the thought out in my mind towards the connection I had with my Kirlia.

" _Yes, mistress?" She answered eagerly._

 _"I have a question for you."_

 _"Anything Mistress"_

" _On the way to the city, why couldn't I communicate with Rex?"_ I questioned her as the memory of being unable to speak with the Houndour came back to me.

" _Because he's an unholy one."_ She answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

" _Unholy one?" I asked confused._

 _"What you humans call the dark type."_ She corrected.

" _But I can talk with Nyx?"_

" _Nyx gave you permission."_ She answered again.

 _"Permission?"_ I asked quickly.

" _Yes in order for a psychic type to get past an unholy one's natural immunity to us, the unholy one must give permission. This blocks telepathy between the psychic and the unholy one and if they are trained well enough it also blocks any teleportation within a certain radius as well without permission."_ She explained and my eyes widen in surprise. If this was true then this opened up so many ideas and strategies within my mind. " _Don't get too excited just yet mistress, while telepathy blocking is natural in all unholy ones. Teleportation blocking is a skill that can take years to develop and is only ever shown in the final stages of an unholy one's growth."_ She quickly responded to my thoughts and dashing my hopes.

" _Right well you said the only way through is trust?"_ I asked her eagerly if this was true it meant that Nyx truly did trust me.

" _Yes… well no, there exists a move which only a few learn such as my species cousins; what you call Alakazam. The move forces it's way past any defenses of the mind and turns the unholy one's strengths into a weakness instead."_ She continued to lecture to me.

I thanked the Kirlia for the information and we continued walking through Johtos capital city. If I trained Nyx well enough and got her into practicing this before she evolved. I could have a way of stopping potential future threats from teleporting around or close to me. It also meant that in my gym challenge, I could have an easy and good strategy against future gym leaders like Sabrina and Will. Also, I could finally stop that asshole Red from popping up wherever he wanted. I made my decision, first chance I got I would start researching and training Nyx in this, even if she couldn't do it until she was a Honchkrow it would still be helpful to get a head start.

We arrived at the gym after another hour and a half of walking. I quickly signed up for my gym battle, I registered for a battle seven weeks from now. That would give me plenty of time to optimize my team for the gym battle but still give me the requisite week for another challenge in case I failed my challenge. After that, we sat down at a cafe for a nice meal and watched lazily as Hector ran around chasing Pidoves.

"Does he ever run out of energy?" I asked watching as the Growlithe narrowly missed one of the birds.

"If he does I've never seen it," Katie replied. "Bloody bastard kept me up every night we were alone."

"I've seen it happen only twice." A masculine voice said sitting down next to us.

"You've seen my Growlithe run out of energy? That kinda cree-oh fuck you!" Katie said turning towards the voice and I looked over as well.

"Hello ladies, you doing alright today?" Red said casually taking a sip from a glass the waitress brought him.

"We were until you showed up." Katie spat back at him.

"Relax already! I told ya I'd meet ya once you got to the city didn't I?" He said casually waving away her anger.

"Right and I thought you were supposed to communicate with us first," I questioned trying to keep the bitterness from my tone.

"Nah I never said that, besides it's not nearly as much fun… you gonna eat that?" He asked gesturing to the remains of a sandwich on my plate.

"Take it," I muttered as I pushed the plate towards him.

"Thanks, I'm starved! I mean so much to do, rarely have time to stop and eat ya know? God that is good!" He gushed as took a bite.

"So what do you want?" Katie asked?

"Why do you assume I want something? Why can't I just hang out with my two gal pals?" Red said mocking offense.

"Because ya want something," Katie said cutting off his bullshit!

"Fine fine… sheesh, and I thought she was supposed to be the fun one." He leaned over and whispered to me chuckling. "Anyways I got a job for you two."

"What kind of job?" I asked leaning in closer.

"I need ya guys to check out a place for me in town. There's a club here in town, names Hoot-Hoot's. A small little place in a dingy part of town. It shuts down at around two in the morning. If ya go after, knock on the door and say 'everyone happy'. Well, you'll be let in." He explained thoroughly.

"Well, what's inside?" I asked curiously.

"Unsanctioned pokemon battles, fight a little bit more extreme than your average gym battle."

"Ah, so a fuckin illegal gambling ring." Katie angrily exclaimed.

"If ya wanna be crude sure." He sarcastically shot back at her. "Here's the thing though, ya gotta win. When ya do a man will approach you, an associate of mine. Tell him I sent you and he'll take care of the rest." He finished.

"Why don't we all just meet, why all the extra steps," I asked.

Groaning he slapped his forehead. "Don't ya get it? I'm being followed, my associates being followed. Hell your undefeated at this point, you're almost certainly being followed as well." At that, I quickly began glancing around my shoulders. "Shh no don't look alright? Stuff like this is the only way we can meet safely you get me?" He quickly snapped and both Katie and I nodded.

"Good, now I've got other business to attend too. I'll see you two later, for now, be safe, have fun and make sure you're there for the tourney tonight alright?"

"Yes, sir." We both responded sarcastically.

"Good, you guys are learning… oh and thanks for picking up my check." He said before disappearing in a flash of light.

"I swear I'm gonna fucking kill that guy next time I see his stupid face," Katie growled clutching her cup so hard I thought it was gonna shatter.

"Shh, it's gonna be alright," I said soothingly rubbing her back. "Come on let's go back and relax for a while. It's been a long day." At the word relax Katie's mood completely changed. So we paid our bills got up and retired to the pokemon center for a long nap until it was time to leave.

After checking some maps and coming up with a route we left the pokemon center at around one-thirty. We made our way to the nearest magnet train station. The magnet train being the pride of the Kanjo region, it runs as far as Saffron city and is the fastest way of reaching there outside of flight. Controlled through the use of Magnezone, there are three separate trains you can take. One is the train to Kanto which from start to finish takes around sixteen hours of travel. The other two are specifically made to navigate and travel around Saffron and Goldenrod specifically. Using the Goldenrod magnet train, we could realistically reach a station close to our destination in around ten minutes, instead of the usual forty or so it'd take to walk there normally.

After arriving at our requisite station, we had roughly another twenty minutes to kill. So to loosen the nerves a bit we took advantage of the last call and had a couple of drinks, then when we were kicked out we waited by each smoking a quick cigarette. Finally, it came time to knock on the door.

"What are you ladies still doing here? Clubs closed." A gruff and well-built bouncer asked us as we approached the club.

"Were just here to make… everyone happy." Katie told him winking slowly.

"Oh, are you now?" The bouncer questioned us unbelievably.

"Yes!" I chimed in. "Everyone happy. It's very important to us."

"How old are you two?" He leaned in quizzically.

"Fourteen." We answered.

"Ha! Sorry ladies, but we're not that kinda club. Our... entertainment if ya will." He said waving his right hand. "Must be of a certain age."

"And if we're not entertainment?" Katie asked her voice sly and cool.

"Well, then you must be cops, in which case this conversation never happened." The bouncer blundered out and began turning away.

"Something better." I quickly added before he left and raised my jacket revealing my belt full of pokeballs.

"Oh… alright come on in and quick, I don't want anybody seeing us alright?" He said waving us in.

We walked inside where another man patted us down for any weapons we might be carrying. Both me and Katie left him our knives and then a darker-skinned woman came and led us across the dance floor and behind the DJ's stand. There she leaned down and knocked three times on the floor and to my surprise, it opened up into a trapdoor. Below the trapdoor was a ladder that went down quite aways. We were led down the trap door to an extremely large room, with an arena in the center. Inside the arena, a Kanghaskan was being mauled savagely by a Lycanrock-day while a crowd cheered and waved their money around in the air. I already felt sick just watching the gruesome display. However, we continued following the lady to a small desk in the corner where two men sat and two lines were formed. One line was a lot bigger than the other.

"Battling or betting?" The lady asked us, a noticeable Alolan accent in her voice.

"Battling," Katie replied for the both us, I was still too shocked and disgusted to actually reply.

"Right this way then." She said leading us to the shorter line. After a couple of minutes, the crowd exploded and I made the mistake of looking and seeing the Kanghaskan's bloody corpse lying there as the Lycanrock-day trainer returned his pokemon.

"What you guys got?" The man sitting at the table said and I now could see he was pale and slightly overweight.

"What do you mean?" I asked unsurely.

"To battle, you guys are in the battle line aren't you?" He asked once more this time irritation evident in his voice.

"Murkrow, Syl-" I started but then realized I didn't quite wanna give that away yet. "Murkrow and Nidorino I mean." I corrected.

"Noted and you?" He questioned Katie.

"Growlithe, Houndoom and Delphox." She replied showing him Rex, Hector and Maidens pokeballs.

He whistled appreciatively, "damn you don't see many of those around."

"Yeah consider it my secret weapon… between us three." Katie said winking at him and I had to stop my jealousy from showing.

"Alright, that'll be a thousand dollars." He said expectantly.

"A thousand dollars?" I yelled astonished.

"Don't worry if you win, you'll get much more than that." He tried to soothe me.

"And if we lose?" I inquired eagerly.

"Well, then your money probably won't be what you're worried about." He retorted chuckling to himself.

"What do you mean?" I quickly asked anxiety beginning to bubble inside me.

"The rules girl! Don't tell me you don't know the rules!" He said laughing even louder than before.

"Sorry mate, too eager to get into the fight we are." Katie butted in quickly.

"Well there simple really. It's a one on one battle. You must fight until you recall your pokemon or to the death. If you recall your pokemon you lose all your money, whereas if your pokemon dies ya only lose half." He explained and it suddenly made a lot more sense why the Kanghaskan trainer didn't recall his pokemon. "Best of luck to you ladies, I always like to root for the newbies myself." He said handing us a number and gesturing to an area where the other battles were waiting.

"What'd you get?" Katie asked me as we made our way over to the area.

"I'm seventh you?" I asked back.

"Eighth" she replied and I nodded, at least we would be directly after each other.

We sat down in the area and watched as two trainers stepped into the ring. Both were young fit and clearly had the pale white skin of a Johtoan. Judging by the confidence they both held this was not their first time battling here and by the nod, they shared it wasn't there first time battling each other either. We watched as the two trainers sent out there pokemon. The one closer to our side sending out a Machamp while the other trainer sent out a Clefable.

"Five bucks on champy over there," Katke said leaning over and whispering in my ear.

"Deal, the Clefable has the advantage anyways," I noted as the two pokemon began pacing around each other in a slow circle. Suddenly the Machamp rushed forward and began pummeling into the Clefable from all four hands. The Clefable seemed to simply shrug it off and began wagging its finger in a small gesture.

"Metronome? What the hell is he doing?" I asked Katie curiously. Metronome was a weird attack, very little pokemon could learn it and legends say only ones descended from the mythical Mew themself as it could use any attack known to the world. Scientists are still baffled by it and the leading theory has to do something with absorbing the power of the moon or something. However, that doesn't explain the Togepi family learning the move.

"Taking a risk I'd wager," Katie answered and we both waited with bated breath on what the Metronome would turn into. When the Clefable finished wagging its finger it began to glow, at first a little bit reflecting the light. However, soon enough a brilliant white light surrounded its entire body and from that, I felt a large wave of warmth begin to brush against my body.

"Get down!" I heard someone shout and before I could even react Katie was already pulling me down to the ground. A loud bang enveloped all sound in the room and my ears were ringing violently, as searing hotness washed over me briefly and I was thrown back to those first few days in the wilds of Johto and that forest fire. I saw Katie yelling at me but I couldn't hear her, all I could hear was that fucking ringing and all I could feel was my tears running down my face as I remembered that horrible night in the woods. Then suddenly it all came rushing back to me, the sound, where I was, what was happening. It all came back in a flood and I gasped for breath quickly.

"What the fuck happened," I yelled looking up at Katie.

"Metronome, it turned into self-destruct." She grimaced. "Trust me don't look alright? At least not at the moment." She continued but ignored her against my better judgment. I saw nothing recognizable of the Clefable, just meat, bloody chunks spattering everywhere. Surprisingly enough the Machamp was still standing though it was missing one of its arms; though it's trainer quickly recalled it soon enough. The last thing I saw before I looked away again was the Clefables trainer being "escorted" out by a group of bouncers.

Whoever Red's contact was here, I wasn't sure if I wanted to meet him if this was the kind of place he hung out in regularly. I was pulled out of my thoughts however as I was called up to the arena to fight. So I gave Katie's hand one last squeeze before making my way up to the stage.

My opponent was a young man, I'd wager somewhere in his twenties dressed in a baggy hoodie and Jeans. There was honestly nothing too remarkable about him at all. That was until he released his pokemon. A primal shudder shook my body as a ghostly black body from the deepest depths of my own body appeared before me. It opened its red eyes and its mouth into a cruel smile that seemed to pierce the very core of my soul and all I wanted to do was run as far and fast as I could from this… this monster. There's a reason they call Gengar the boogeyman.

However, I steeled myself and quickly released Nyx. She would have the type advantage and she hadn't failed me yet at this point and I prayed she wouldn't fail me now. I brought my Harmonica up to my lips and as soon as the referee signaled the match to start I sharply blew a low A note and Nyx took to the sky.

You see much like many dark types, Gengar primarily hunts via inhabiting its prey's shadow. If I could get Nyx in the air and away from it a majority of the Gengars trucks would be rendered null and void. At least that was my game plan which the Gengar immediately proceeded to fuck up as it quickly shot a shadow ball towards Nyx. I blew a D flat and Nyx veered to the side. However, the Gengar was not aiming for Nyx and instead, the light fixture above her which it's shadow struck shattering the lightbulb quite a few of the glass shards spreading outwards and shallowly piercing Nyx's left-wing.

Her wing too damaged to properly support herself she began to plummet towards the ground. There the Gengar lay in wait covering the entire ring with its horrid face mouth wide open in anticipation for its next meal. Acting quickly I withdrew Nyx before she could fall into the Gengars mouth and in doing so forfeited the match. I stood there in shock at how little I was able to do in that match and how utterly decimated Nyx was by that Gengar. It took the bouncers coming up to grab me before I started moving back towards where Katie sat.

"Good luck." I grimaced as she got up and walked past me.

"Thanks." She muttered but I could tell by her tone and the way she seemed to shiver as she walked that for the first time Katie was shaken and scared by what she saw.

The man she stood across from was more the stereotypical guy I'd suspect to be in a place like this. He was bald, muscular and looked to be darker-skinned similar to that of the Alolan region. He looked like every dumb meathead I had ever met before and I already knew that Katie would have this one in the bag.

She sent out Rex while he sent out a large orange furred bear with a yellow crescent moon on its chest. Something I had had the unfortunate circumstances of meeting before an Ursaring and again I knew knowing Rex that this was Katie's match to win. The two stood there examining each other for a moment before Katie made the first move.

"Flamethrower!" She yelled and Rex began to bathe the bear in a large column of flame.

"Bảo vệ" the man yelled back and the Ursaring surrounded himself with a green protective barrier which the flames deflected off of and caused a waiter to drop his tray of trunks as he ducked beneath it.

"Smokescreen," Katie yelled this time and the ring became covered in a veil of smoke which Red quickly dashed into.

"Hãy sẵn sàng," the man said to his Ursaring and it stood there waiting cautiously peering around the smoke trying to get a glimpse of the Houndoom. Until suddenly a burst of flame emerged from it's left catching it and sending it tumbling backward. As it turned away from the searing heat a concentrated pulse of darkness blasted the bear from the right and caused it to flinch and trip falling onto it's back. From there Rex sprang forward and latched onto its throat with his flame covered fangs and ripped once leaving the Ursaring to lay still.

I sat there wide-eyed with wonder, I mean I knew Katie would win and I knew she was an excellent battler but this opened my eyes even more. It was then I made a vow to never get in a fight with the Apollo again as I would stand no chance whatsoever.

"Not too bad eh lass," Katie said laughing as she walked up to the table brandishing a rather large envelope of money.

"Yeah, you were pretty hot," I muttered absentmindedly before quickly blushing in embarrassment at the stupid thing I just said. However, before Katie could make fun of me a middle-aged man with orange spiky hair and wearing a black t-shirt and jeans approached us.

"Can I buy you, ladies, a drink?" He asked us flashing a grin.

"Get lost ya daft cunt, were a wee too young for ya." Katie spat at him.

"Nah, ya see this drink isn't from me, it's from a mutual friend of ours." He replied unfazed by Katie's use of language.

"Red?" I asked realizing that this must be our contact.

"Yeah, there must en something really special about you two if that old son of a bitch sent me to get ya." He said and then extended his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet ya, they call me Blue."


End file.
